Foray
by Hikari-san42
Summary: Leaving one's family and destiny isn't an easy thing to do, but Sonic needs to get away to discover if he's the prince his siblings want him to be, or the hero his heart is telling him he is. Three years later, Eggman kidnaps Manic, and Sonic is drawn back into the world he left behind, but now he can do more than rely on his medallion. He can fight. /Bridging Underground and SEGA/
1. Glissando

_Foray_

_Prologue: Glissando  
_

_A Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction_

Rating: K+

Pairings: None

Warnings: Slight OOC on Sonic's part. Sorry about that. He's kinda in an in-between place right now, so he doesn't have a set personality.

Notes: _**(****Important!)**_ In this, Sonic is the oldest. Just for clarification. I'm not sure what the head canon is on this, but I've gathered from the show that Manic's the youngest, and Sonic once told Sonia to stop worrying because "Big bro' Sonic is here" so, he's the oldest. Also, I'm throwing Knuckles and his weirdly shaped 'emerald' (and the Floating Island looks weird in that show, but I digress) out of the Underground continuity. Pretend it never happened. It doesn't work with Sega one iota, so I banished it.

This story… I had to write it because of reasons. I've always loved these stories that bridge Underground to the SEGA continuity and so sue me for wanting to try my hand at it. I've been stewing on it for a few months now, and I hadn't intended on working on it until I finished _The Genesis of a Generation_, but it just niggled at me a little too much in the past week so I decided to at least get the prologue out there. See if I get any good reception or if I'm just wasting my time.

Me: I feel like I'm encroaching on someone else's territory… I've seen so many people do so many _good_ versions of this… I feel like I'm stealing.

Yami (who is my beta): Yeah, but I want to see how YOU would do it. Besides, it's fanfiction. Everyone's basically stealing. :P

So, without further ado, I present you with the prologue of this mess. Enjoy my dears.

_Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends belong to SEGA and its affiliates. Sonia, Manic, Queen Aleena and everyone else from Underground belong to DiC (now Cookie Jar) (and, fun fact, Underground is now playing on Disney XD in the wee early hours of the morning). I claim no ownership over any recognizable material in this story nor am I making money off of this fic. I'm only a broke college student, please don't sue me._

* * *

**_*Modulation:*:Elegy*_**

The explosion is so expansive, it seems to eat even sound. Sonia can hear nothing as she gazes out the window of the van, parked just on the outskirts of Robotropolis. She can see the blast, yet her mind rejects it, as if it's just a figment of her imagination. The detonation was so unexpected, so completely out of left field, that she can do nothing but watch. She can feel her heart beating and hear her lungs taking in air as the flare of light, fire, dust, and debris races toward the van and the city, but she cannot comprehend the situation. The westerly wind coupled with the fact that ground zero is so far away saves the city, and she feels her throat choke up.

"Sonic…" she whispers, so quietly she can barely hear it herself. "_No_."

Sonic, her stupid, _stupid_ brother had parked the van here, and _ordered_ both her and their other brother, Manic, to _stay put_. Then, he raced off without another word, bolting across the landscape and right up to Dr. Robotnik's army of robots. She had no idea how he had managed to get the doctor to agree to fight him so far away from the city, and she never got the chance to ask.

And, now, she would never be able to.

She feels her knees quake dangerously and knows that she's going to collapse. The only thing she can do is take in a deep breath and wait for impact. However, before she can get close to the ground, Manic is there. His strong, nimble hands grab her shoulders and hold her up, because she is unable to do it herself any longer. He allows her to sink into his embrace before lowering both of them to the ground. They clutch to each other, and she sobs into his chest, beating her fist uselessly against him, and he simply takes the abuse with a strong face.

Inside, however, he is breaking.

Sonic… Manic's big brother… The one person who always paid attention to him, made him stop stealing no matter how much his fingers itched, who _knew_ him to the core of his being… He _couldn't_ be gone. Yet, as he looks at the remains of Robuttnik's battalion of robots, he cannot deny the fact. There is no way on Mobius that he could have survived that… even if he _was_ Sonic.

Vaguely, he feels Sonia hitting him, her grief too much for her to contain, but cannot find the sense to care. He just hugs her closer, feeling the swell of her stomach and chest as she gasps for breath amidst her sobs. He cannot conjure tears, despite the fact that he is supposed to be the most emotional out the three – two, he corrects to himself, his heart squeezing painfully – of them, and quickly attributes it to the fact that he has to be the strong one now, for Sonia.

He simply rocks her, humming tunelessly under his breath. Her ears prick and she glances up at him, her eyes huge and puffy. Silently, she touches her medallion, not enough to activate it, but the brush makes his own thrum slightly. However, the reaction is not as strong as it used to be, and the medallions suddenly feel cold and lifeless, just like their brother.

He shakes his head, fighting off tears, and buries his face in her shoulder. However, he does not cry, and she does not start up again.

They just sit there, holding each other, feeling as if a piece of them has been taken away.

All is silent, as if the whole planet is mourning Sonic's loss. The explosive force that knocked him away has dissipated, completely vanished, and it has taken both their greatest enemy and their dearly beloved brother with it.

A few moments later, this is how their mother finds them, clutching to each other, their faces in different states of sorrow, and she knows, deep down, that all three of them might never recover from this.

o0o

**_...:Glissando:..._**

When Sonic woke, the first thing he noticed was that his head was throbbing. Of course, the fact that he was just in the middle of an explosion probably had something to do with that, and he chose not to dwell on it for long. He had more important things to worry about, like, how he was, in fact, _still alive_.

All he could remember was Robuttnik gathering an army of robots outside of the city, and rushing after him. He had no idea why he chose to do something so foolish; Sonia was always pressing the teamwork message into his head. All he remembered was Robotnik demanding that Sonic meet him on the outskirts of the city, or else he would unleash his whole force of robots on Robotropolis and round up every single free Mobian for robotization. – and to come alone. So, Sonic barely thought about it before he parked the van far enough away that his sibs couldn't follow him, and bolted off toward the human's massive force.

The hedgehog had easily plowed his way up to the good doctor himself, destroying every robot that dared to each in his way, where he was promptly captured by a surprisingly quick (and strong) SWATbot. The 'bot seemed to have some type of intelligence, because it kept him extended away from its body by his hands. He had been helpless to do much beside kick his feet uselessly like a five-year-old, glaring at his adversary with eyes that resembled hard pieces of flint.

Then, Dr. Robotnik had started ranting about some special gems he had found – six of them, he claimed, as the seventh and final one was lost forever – to power his flying base. They had infinite energy, he asserted, and Sonic, his siblings, and that useless resistance would be helpless to stop him, blah blah blah. The hedgehog had tuned it out, instead focusing on the robot holding him hostage. After spending so much time around Manic, he had learned a little about the SWATbot's makeup, and this one looked to have a fatal flaw in its arm joint. A few simple swings of his whole body would rip it free, letting him go in the process.

Needless to say, he had succeeded in getting free, and had proceeded to try to power down Robuttnik's machine. That was easier said than done, and he literally tried everything from a spindash to a kick, all the while avoiding SWATbots and swipes from the doctor himself, before he simply shoved his fingers around one of the gems and yanked it from its place in the dash.

The result had been less than glamorous but still totally effective, as Robuttnik had proceeded to scream and yell and roar that he had just brought on both of their deaths, but Sonic couldn't be bothered to care, because he was too busy listening as the mecha had started to wail and warn them that the Chaos levels were unstable.

He didn't get to puzzle over what the heck Chaos levels were before the world went up in a flash of white.

So, here he now sat, alive, whole, and completely confused. He slowly picked his hands up, and – after taking note of the fact that his gloves were missing, probably disintegrated in the explosion – pinched himself on the arm, just to be sure that he wasn't dreaming. The sharp pain rippled up his limb, awakening the nerve endings, and he hissed as they screamed at him for the rough treatment. His head was pounding now, and he could do nothing to ease it, so he simply glanced around, trying to figure out why he wasn't a splat of blue jelly somewhere.

After they passed over his shoes – and he took delight over the fact that both they and his socks had survived intact – his eyes alighted on something sitting a few inches out of reach. Green, like his brother, it winked at him in the dying light, as if assuring him that he did the right thing by pulling it out of the machine. It was one of the gems – Emeralds, his brain supplied, that Robuttnik had been rambling about, the very same one he had ripped away from the doc.

With a sigh, he reached over, gritting his teeth as his whole body shuddered in pain, and grabbed it. The surface was cool against his bare palm, and he couldn't help but stare at it, as if he could see for miles into its depths. Suddenly, it flared with energy and he felt power snake up his arm like a lightning bolt. He yelped, but was unable to let go of the Emerald, and it quickly finished siphoning energy into him before unexpectedly flying away from his hand. It winked out of sight seconds later.

Sonic was immediately energized, and he could feel his injuries healing themselves. The cuts riddling his body stitched together with a tug at his skin and his bones quickly realigned, reasserting themselves into place like puzzle pieces. He felt reinvigorated, as if he had just woken from a month of sleep, and he quickly jumped to his feet. His shoes were dazzlingly bright and his quills a healthy dark blue, as if they too had received a face lift from the Emerald. He had no idea what that Emerald was, but he was grateful to it just the same.

He glanced around the carnage, and was surprised to see that nothing had really survived the blast, save a large portion of Robuttnik's control room, which was overturned. Most of the plant matter was gone and the smoke had mostly dissipated. If that struck Sonic as strange, he didn't dwell on it, instead choosing to begin padding in the direction of the city.

Until, that is, his left foot crunched down on something in the dirt, sending a jolt of familiar energy jarring through his leg. He paused and took a few steps backward before dropping to his knees and sending his inquisitive hands sifting through the dirt and ash, sensitive fingers pricking on each grain and rock.

Eventually, his palms came into contact with something smooth and familiar, and he wrapped his right hand around it before yanking it away from its shallow grave. His eyes widened.

His medallion, somehow cleaved cleanly from the dual necks of the guitar, dully shined up at him. He ran his tan fingers over the surface, his face screwing into a grimace when it refused to pulse with energy at his touch, and he immediately knew that it was ruined. He fell onto his backside, a huge gust of air leaving him as he landed, yet he barely noticed as he gazed at the thing clutched in his shaking fingers with an expression of pure shock. The strong, polymer-based, red rope that secured it around his neck was missing, but he barely noticed that before something winked up at him in the waning sunlight, right next to his left foot. He fell forward to grab it, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

His suspicious were confirmed when he was sitting up again and he felt his stomach tie itself into a knot. Sonic's guitar shaped medallion was resting in two pieces in either of his hands, the body of the pendant – with the tell-tale swoops of hedgehog quills coming off the end – sitting in his right while the double necks were situated in his left, both parts looking alien separated from each other. He could only stare, his thoughts streaming quickly through his head. The fact that he hadn't noticed that it was missing as soon as he awoke was telling, but now that he was aware that it was impossibly _broken_, he felt sick.

The medallion was a connection to his family, something that bound him and his siblings together, but it always came second to his speed. When he was in a pinch, he always relied on his feet, not his medallion, something that irked Sonia and worried Manic to no end. He probably didn't need it, as much as it pained him to think, beyond a bond to his kin and a symbol of his royal heritage, but he couldn't help but sit there and mourn its loss. He had had it his whole life, and now that it was broken, he couldn't help but feel like he had failed in some way. Sure, he had gotten rid of Robotnik – which he still had yet to completely to terms with – but now he had to go back to his family and face them with a broken medallion and a crazy story about magical Emeralds as an explanation to how he had survived. He winced inwardly, mind supplying him with possible lectures Sonia would rain down on him.

With a sigh, he shook his head, sent one last longing look at his wrecked medallion, and secured it in his quills before pushing himself to his feet and glanced around once. The whole area was dead, completely void of any life except for the blue one, and for some strange reason, that calmed him a bit. He had always been a loner, able to defend and take care of himself without much help, and the constant companionship he had gotten from his siblings for the past few months was a very big change from his usual routine. Now though, with the wind blowing through his quills and the sun warming his skin, he couldn't help but miss what he could have had.

Suddenly, it struck him that he was done – finished. Robotnik was gone, and with him, his empire; Sonic's family was free to rule again. If – _when_ – he went back he – as the oldest – would be declared crown prince of Mobius, and would immediately be catapulted into a position of power and responsibility. No more running around for fun; no more rude jokes; no more chili dogs whenever he wanted them…

Sonic shook his head, taking a few steps in the direction of Robotropolis – _Mobotropolis_, his brain corrected quickly – and forced his thoughts away. This is what he had been fighting for for the last who knew how long, and he did not intend to back out now.

No matter how much he enjoyed the idea of just turning around and taking off.

Sonic Hedgehog had lived most of his life being told what he could and could not do. First by his adoptive parents – _'No revin' in the house, Son._' – then by his Uncle Chuck – _'You're too young to help with the resistance, Sonny-boy.'_ – and, most recently, by Sonia – _'Sonic, we have to find Mother! Stop getting distracted by chili dogs!'_ – and he was getting sick of it. He had always been a free soul, liking to make his own decisions and forge his own path, and all of these orders were starting to rub him the wrong way. He loved his family, but they were smothering him, even if unintentionally.

He could only imagine what life would be like when his mother was handed the boss-torch. Of course, she was _supposed_ to have been the one telling him what to do his whole life, but because she was the fourth in a long line, Sonic could only dread it. Add the fact that she was technically his queen – _and_ his mother – and he could feel his freedom slipping through his fingers.

The blue hedgehog grumbled to himself as he kicked at a piece of debris, sending it skittering toward the only surviving piece of Robotnik's flying fortress. He could imagine life in the palace already, with the lessons and the future of Mobius lording over him.

"Pick up your chin, Sonic," he groused sardonically to himself, his tone raised to a falsetto in imitation of Sonia. "Stop smirking, Sonic. It's rude. No, you may not have a chili dog at the banquet Sonic. Do not complain Sonic. Princes never complain." He continued in his tirade at inaudible tones, carefully picking his way across a large section of warped metal, giving it a harsh kick out of spite.

The hollow _clang_ that followed upset a flock of feral birds in the nearby trees – which had somehow survived the explosion – and the hedgehog watched them with huge, dark eyes. They took to the sky, darting away at a speed that even he admired, and he couldn't help but envy them. They were free to do whatever they wanted, including run away when they were afraid. He had never been able to do that, and would never get the chance, because _princes never show fear_.

Sonic paused as that thought crossed his mind, his feet planting in an almost perfect mimicry of a ballet dancer's first position, and his hands fell into their comfortably familiar position on his hips. _Who am I kidding_, he thought to himself as he leaned his weight onto his right foot, his eyes staring at the vague shapes of the city in the near-dark of twilight. _I'm not cut out to be a prince_.

For some reason, that small omission was just enough of a push that he needed, and he turned abruptly on his heel, heading back the way he had come. _I can't do it. No running, no chili dogs, and all those _rules, his thoughts paused even as his feet kept their pace. _Sonia and Manic will be fine without me_, he assured himself, picking up his mental assurances. _Sonia's been trained pretty much from birth for this type of thing and Manic's a quick learner. They'll be the perfect pair of rulers for Mobius_.

Despite his thoughts, he still felt a small niggle of guilt worm its way into his brain as he stepped past the spot where he had found his medallion. Sonia and Manic relied on him for a lot, _maybe too much_, he retorted to himself, but they were his siblings… But, he had always wanted to see the rest of the planet, beyond Robotnik's reach of control, where the people still _lived_, not just survived; where they smiled and laughed and enjoyed life. He wanted to make _friends_… Besides his siblings and Cyrus. He needed the freedom to become who he wanted to be.

Because, this angry, sarcastic joker wasn't what he wanted from himself.

"Ho_ho_, Sonic!" Suddenly, a voice the hedgehog never expected to hear again yelled in his direction and he whipped around, his quills bristling. Dr. Robotnik grinned at him from a floating, rounded machine, his smile possibly one of the sickest things the blue hero had ever seen. "I see you survived the fireworks display! How did you like your first taste of Chaos?" He paused as if waiting for Sonic to speak, but the speedster was too shocked to formulate a response. "Well, no matter what your opinion, I can assure you that there is much more to come! And, you might not enjoy it as much as you did this time!" The human slammed his bulbous fist down on the control panel in front of him and his machine took off in the direction opposite the city, the evil man laughing the whole way. "Until next time, young prince!"

For some reason, that last statement sent Sonic over the edge and his fur ripped up his arms in agitation, his ungloved fingers twitching. How _dare_ Robuttnik call him that, as if he understood what Sonic's life could – would – _should_ be. He practically snarled as he watched the doc disappear in the direction of the mainland's southern border. Immediately, he took off after the human, ripping through the sound barrier in seconds.

Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a prince. Maybe he wasn't cut out to change Mobius in the way that his siblings saw as the only way, but he would _make sure_ that his family was able to enjoy their victory. He was through with the resistance and the good-fight and the rules. He was done following blindly and being told what to do. He wanted to make a change, in his _own way_, and, right now, that meant protecting those unaware of Robotnik on the rest of the planet. They had no idea what was coming, and he would _make sure_ they had someone who could save them.

Prince Sonic Hedgehog was now Sonic _the_ Hedgehog, and he was _not_ giving up without a fight.

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_Reviews are cherished._


	2. Cadenza

_Foray_ – a Sonic the Hedgehog – Sonic Underground crossover.

_1 – Cadenza_

A _Sonic the Hedgehog_ fanfiction

**Notes:** Jeeze… Eleven reviews for only one chapter? o.O You guys spoil me. Thanks though! I suppose this could still be considered part of the prologue, because it recaps some of the games, but there's some important stuff dropped in. Gotta build my bridge, ya know. Still, this is the first chapter.

**Warnings:** Gotta include some warnings or else this thing'll be boring. Let's see… Lots of _aaaaaaangst_, and there's some assumed character death so some mourning, some forgotten characters show their faces, drama bombs going off because Eggman's a high maintenance drama queen (but we still love him so), Sonic's still a little angry because Underground keeps hanging over his head, and chili dogs.

Enjoy~!

* * *

…_**:Coda:…**_

Sonic wasn't exactly sure how he ended up in Green Hill.

His journey here had quickly become a blur as he rushed off after Dr. Robotnik – and unconsciously put as much distance between himself and the mainland as possible – and he knew that he had eventually lost the human's trail somewhere, so he just randomly started to wander. Ultimately, he found himself in Green Hill Zone, lying on the beach with a pair of sunglasses over his eyes, his back buried in the sand, and his hands clasped behind his head in a pose of tranquility. All around him, mobians and humans of all shapes and sizes were enjoying the sunny weather as well, their children running around and splashing each other in the water or building sand castles. The whole Zone was peaceful, something that the blue twelve year old so desperately needed after the last year of his life, and he happily welcomed it with open arms, even giving it a hug when it seemed content to hang around for a while.

Sonic had been here for a few days, and, between siestas on the beach, had taken to running around the unpopulated forests that fringed the beach-front property. The tropical plants offered a nice obstacle course for the hedgehog, as he always took a different path and every inch of the forest was constantly changing and growing. He especially enjoyed the giant stone loops that were hidden in the underbrush, the rock somehow weathered into a strange checkered pattern, as if someone had built the loops and time had forgotten about them. He had had a little trouble getting up and over the first one he came across, but, with a little practice and determination, he could now handle any that he faced – with a bit of a run up, of course.

Other than that, he had been doing pretty much nothing, which was exactly what he needed. The locals were nice and he had taken to talking to a few of them when they showed up on the beach. Two such individuals had caught his attention early on, because they always seemed to be extremely busy in the laid back, relaxed zone. After watching them run back and forth across the beach for three days, Sonic had eventually approached them to see if something was wrong, and they had stared at him like he had grown a second head or something.

They were very different from each other. One a red and black armadillo and the other a yellow flying squirrel, the latter seemed very shy and timid while the former seemed more outspoken and friendly. He introduced himself as Mighty the Armadillo and his friend as Ray, after Sonic had convinced them that he hadn't been stalking them like they had originally assumed (hence the second-head staring). Eventually, the three of them got to talking and Sonic hedged his original question.

"What are you guys running around the beach all the time for?" he had asked, leaning on the table in front of him. Mighty had insisted that they take Sonic out for lunch, as a way to greet him to Green Hill, and he had graciously accepted, because he hadn't really had a decent meal since he had arrived.

"We've been looking for the Chaos Emeralds," Ray answered eventually, after sharing a glance with Mighty. The two of them had been fidgety all day, as if they had found something, but Sonic had chosen to ignore it.

"The Chaos Emeralds?" The name sounded vaguely familiar… Did they have anything to do with the Emeralds that Dr. Robotnik had had?

"You've never heard of the Chaos Emeralds?" Mighty had asked, flabbergasted. Sonic didn't have the modesty to look embarrassed, though he did look down at the table and shake his head. "Where did you _come_ from?"

"The, uh, mainland…?" He had winced when his answer came out as a question, but there was no way to take it back, so he simply picked his head up and stared at his companions, begging them not to press the issue. They relented easily, understanding all about troubled pasts

"The Chaos Emeralds are mythical items of power. They're full of Chaos Energy, which fuels this planet, and, it's said that anyone who posses all seven will unlock an unstoppable power." Mighty answered, sipping at his drink.

Sonic was going to reply, but a waitress sauntered up at that point, asking for their order. Only after Sonic had requested a chili dog with the works and she had left did Sonic get to voice his response. "Are they about this big?" He cupped his hands to about the dimensions of the Emerald he had encountered in Robotnik's fortress; Mighty and Ray's eyes widened. "And, green?"

"One of them is green…" Ray said in awe, moving closer with his eyes trained on Sonic's hands, as if he could see an after-image of the stone sitting there. "You saw one?"

"Well, I guess… It kinda saved my life…"

Mighty sputtered, almost spitting out his drink. "_What_?" he demanded, his hands hitting the table flat-palmed as he leaned in toward the hedgehog. "The Emeralds haven't been seen for _years_, and you're telling me one of them _saved your life_?"

"Uh, I guess…" Sonic repeated, putting his hands up when the armadillo tried to get even closer to him. "Look, at the time I had no idea what it was an-"

"This is incredible!" Mighty exploded, throwing his hands up. "Tell me, what did it feel like? Did you learn anything from it? Where on the mainland did you come from?"

"Um, in order, tingly, no, and the Mobian Kingdom."

"Wait, Queen Aleena's Mobian Kingdom?"

"Yes…"

"Wasn't that taken over by a human twelve years ago?"

"Yeah," he waved off the question, "the resistance got rid of him."

"Huh. Didn't think the Emeralds liked the Kingdom. They usually only show up on the islands down south. How strange…"

"Heh heh, strange…" Sonic laughed dryly, looking away when Mighty tried to catch his eye. Suddenly, something occurred to Sonic and he jerked his head up. "Wait, did you say seven?"

"Yeah, there's seven Emeralds. The last one's lost though… Something about it being the final key and the only person who can find it is destined to unlock the Emeralds' full potential… That's why me and Ray are looking. We want to be the ones to find the seventh Emerald."

Sonic had excused himself after that, not even bothering to wait around for his food. He knew that was probably really rude and Sonia would have had his head if she found out, but he had things he needed to think about.

Which was how he ended up on the beach again. Something about the sun and the sound of the waves helped to calm his mind and allow him to think a little deeper than he was used to. The past few days had been very beneficial to his health, as if something back home had been making him weak. Two days ago, he realized that his head was clear, as if he had had a headache his whole life and hadn't realized it until it was gone. It was strange, and he couldn't put his finger on what exactly could have caused it, but he was doubly thankful he had left.

_Robotnik said something about six Emeralds_… he thought to himself, turning his face away from the sun. _No wait, he mentioned the seventh being lost forever. I wonder if he knows about this legend._

Of course he knew, but Sonic couldn't help but be optimistic. The Seventh Emerald was probably the reason that he didn't bother trying to take over Mobotropolis again. From the sound of it, that last gem could help him conquer the whole _planet_, not just a small kingdom.

000

A few days passed before he started to hear the rumors. He was barely aware of them at first, as he was too preoccupied with thoughts of Emeralds and running. He had taken to spending less time on the beaches as well, instead opting to keep himself limber and increasing his hand to hand skills. His fighting abilities were lacking, because he had been relying on his medallion more often than he should have, and he had asked Mighty to teach him a bit of fighting. The armadillo didn't seem keen to the idea at the time, because he didn't believe in violence – though when asked why he knew to fight he had clammed up and agreed.

Sonic was slowly becoming more aware of his own body. Before, he had no idea exactly how fast he could run – just that he was _fast_ – and he eventually managed to break the sound barrier with barely any effort. He had only done it once before – when he had chased Robotnik away from Mobotropolis – and he hadn't really been aware of it at the time, but now he was totally mesmerized by the feeling of the air splintering, collapsing underneath the force of his pushing speed, and, when it eventually broke and that wall of sound blasted away on either side of him, he felt an exhilaration that he had never experienced before. It was addictive.

The first rumor came about when he was walking through town, trying to find something to eat. The locals were pretty good about offering up food to someone who looked weary and travel worn – and, with his wind whipped quills, scuffed shoes, and no gloves, he looked seriously travel worn – and they were caring enough to usually offer him a place to sleep for the night, though he never accepted. He had a place; he just needed food.

So, when an older man called out to him as he was walking along, he slowly made his way to him, careful not to jump to conclusions. The older folks were more prone to seeing a starving twelve year old and to feed him, but he felt a little guilty when he accepted their offerings, as if he was stealing. Of course, he knew that he had extended his newcomer welcome a long time ago, but he didn't have anywhere else to go; this Zone had somehow become his home.

"Yes sir?" Sonic asked once he had stopped in front of the man. He was an aged lion, with dark eyes and a long, shaggy mane. His fur was a healthy gold, and Sonic could tell from his hunched form that he had a life left in him, despite his appearance.

"You looked a little lost. Are you alright?" The man's voice was gruff, yet somehow smooth.

"I was just looking for something to eat…" He felt a little sheepish now that he was staring into the man's eyes, but he could not take back his words and he stared brazenly ahead.

"You seem to be in need of something else as well…" The lion looked pointedly at the hedgehog's uncovered hands, and Sonic immediately started to feel self conscious, even if only a little bit. "No mobian I've ever come across has been comfortable without gloves, and I've seen you around quite a bit. Don't you have a pair?"

Sonic stared down at his hands, realizing for the first time that his fingers were filthy, the tan skin almost brown with dirt. He clenched his hands into fists, forcing his eyes away from the thin digits. "Not anymore," he answered truthfully, looking back up at the lion. "My last pair kinda… fell apart."

"Well, then, come with me." The brusque command was punctuated as the old mobian turned and shuffled off down the path. Sonic glanced around, confused, before following at a sedate pace, dodging around people as he went. They walked for a few minutes before the old man entered a small dwelling, holding the door open for the hedgehog. The blue one felt a little apprehensive at entering the stranger's home, but all thought of that left him when the lion barked a quick "Well, hurry up, boy!" at him, and he darted inside almost too quickly for the man to follow.

He was directed toward a table and he sat on the edge of the closest chair, watching as his host hustled into a different room. He reappeared half a minute later, holding out two pairs of gloves for the hedgehog. "Here." He tossed them onto the table and Sonic hesitantly grabbed the one nearest him, running his fingers over the silky fabric.

"But-"

"This isn't a hand out, young hedgehog." The man cut off Sonic's refusal. "I do not work in charity."

"But then what…?"

"Those were my son's." The lion heaved a sigh, placing himself into a chair with a bit of difficulty. Sonic could practically hear his old joints creak with the strain. "I was saving them for my grandson, but I haven't seen either of them in twelve years." His tone was heavy, and the words weighed down onto Sonic, casting dark shadows on his thoughts as he realized what his companion was alluding to.

"You mean…?" the hedgehog trailed off for a second time, unable to put his whirling thoughts into words.

"They were visiting Mobotropolis when Dr. Robotnik attacked and took it over. My grandson was only two at the time, and it was nearly impossible for them to escape. My son helped in the resistance and he managed to get word out to me what had happened. I helped him as much as I could, but there wasn't much I could do from the outside." He heaved another sigh, his voice getting quieter the longer he spoke. "He was eventually captured and robotisized. My grandson took up the resistance work, and he kept the correspondence with me going."

Sonic's eyes were drawn toward the gloves, and he picked up the larger pair, laying his palm against them. They were the perfect size. "I still don't see what this has to do with me."

"Cyrus spoke very highly of you in his letters, Sonic Hedgehog." The words came without warning and they thrummed through Sonic like the stroke of dissonance on his guitar. His eyes widened and he jerked to stare at the lion with an impossibly shocked face. The man chuckled at his expression before continuing. "Even before he knew you were one of the lost heirs of Mobius, he told me of the things you could do – the speeds you could reach. When I saw you walking in town a few weeks ago, I was struck by how much you reminded me of the hedgehog he talked about. I've been watching you, and I realized pretty quickly that that hedgehog and you were the same." He leaned in toward the still flabbergasted blue preteen. "What are you doing so far from home?"

Sonic's expression shut down and he tossed the gloves back onto the table. "Robotnik's gone. They don't need me anymore."

A bit of shock flickered across the lion's face at the former prince's words, but he quickly schooled his features into a blank mask. "You are next in line to take the throne."

"Not anymore." Sonic crossed his arms. "My sister wanted that more than me anyway."

The man seemed to realize that his argument was lost on deaf ears, so he changed tactics. "They think you're dead."

That stopped Sonic. His mouth snapped closed and his defensive ego deflated a bit. "I figured, but I wasn't sure…"

"Your funeral is in a few days, on the twenty-third. A bit late, considering how long it's been since both you and Robotnik disappeared." The man shrugged. "Guess they wanted to make sure you were really dead, maybe tried to find a body or your magical necklace. You didn't leave anything behind though, right?"

Sonic's eyes hardened. "No – maybe a few footprints." Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him. "The twenty-third? That's my – our birthday. I can't believe they would have it then."

"A bit fitting. A celebratory funeral for a cowardly prince. Cyrus always talked about how quickly you can run. Never mentioned you being so fast to run _away_ though."

Sonic bristled, his quills raising into a defensive position. "I'm not a prince," he bit out, his jaw tight around his words. "Never was, never will be."

"Sure been acting like one, if you ask me. Bumming off the locals for food, lying on the beach, running around the forest."

"_Excuse me_." Sonic's voice took on a dark quality and his eyes turned into hard pieces of flint in milliseconds. Suddenly, the person he had turned into – the calm, relaxed comedian – morphed back into the hedgehog he had left behind – the angry, defensive prince – and he darted to his feet, his fists thick balls at his side and his mouth set in a deep scowl. "For the past six months I've been fighting a _war_. Forgive me for wanting a few weeks off."

The old man raised his hands in a placating gesture. "You do not have a purpose," he replied bluntly. "A vacation is warranted, if what Cyrus has told me is true, but it has to end eventually. What will you do when that time comes?"

Sonic wilted, the fire leaving him in seconds, and he fell back into his seat. "I – I don't know…" he mumbled after a long silence. "I've been waiting for-"

Before he could finish, the front door of the small house slammed open and a middle aged dog scurried in, wringing her gloved hands. "Apollo!" she called as she caught sight of the lion. "Someone else has gone missing and –" She cut herself off. "Oh, you have company. I'm sorry for barging in…"

"It's fine, Anne," the newly named Apollo soothed. "We were just finishing up." He stood and placed his hands onto the back of his chair to stabilize himself. "Take the gloves, boy." He turned to Sonic, nodding at the pile of white. "Think of them as a thank you from everyone in Mobotropolis." Quickly, he rummaged through a drawer behind him and he threw something else onto the table. "They might be a bit big. Use those straps until you grow into them." Then, he turned and guided the woman from the house, closing the door behind him.

The slam echoed through Sonic's skull, bouncing off his thoughts as they swirled through his head.

000

All hell broke loose four days later.

Sonic was on the beach when it happened, just minding his own business. He had been stewing over Apollo's words for the past few days, steadily getting more and more annoyed with the lion, but he didn't have an answer to the big question. He didn't know what he was going to do with his life. He had expected Robotnik to kick up some kind of fuss eventually – the human had pretty much promised that before running away from Sonic – but he didn't know how long he was going to have to wait. As far as he knew, it could take _years_ to come up with an evil plan.

Luckily – or unluckily, depending on your point of view – that was the day that robots rained down from the sky.

There was minimal warning. The sky was overcast, so the shadow of the giant aircraft only appeared when it descended below the cloud line, and at that point, it was too late. Robots of all shapes and sizes dropped from the sky, landing with sickening clunks all throughout the Zone. They were resilient, staying completely intact when they struck the ground, and they immediately started to terrorize everything in their path. Fliers descended next, equipped with miniature plasma cannons, which they used with gusto. The screams started seconds later, followed by the sound of running feet and burning fur.

Sonic had been resting in the sand, half asleep, but the moment the first 'bot landed – right next to his head – he was on his feet, moving so quickly his whole body was a blur of blue light. He backed away from the small ladybug shaped robot, staring into its blank eyes, trying to gauge what exactly he was up against. The robot was nothing more than a large tire topped with the makings of a metal shell. It was painted red, with black spots completing the ladybug façade, and had small yellow pincers, which it waved at Sonic menacingly, its inner audio processors letting out a hiss of warning.

The hedgehog could only stare stupidly as it tried to lunge toward him, its tire getting trapped in the sand. He was sure that if it was sentient, the robot's eyes would have widened, but, as it were, it could only sit in the sand, revving over and over again in a feeble attempt to get him. He blinked slowly before walking up to it and reaching out a hand to poke it.

His gloved finger came into contact with hard metal and the bug's wheel spun harder still, interpreting his gentle prod as an attack. Sonic was rewarded with a spray of sand to the face and he sputtered, falling away from the semi-trapped robot.

"Not cool," he muttered, swiping the back of his hand across his eyes to free them of sand. "Seriously, what gives?" The robot clacked at him, and his ears twitched upwards a bit when the sound of banging seemed to emanate from inside. "What the…" He padded back up to it, and perilously leaned toward it with one ear raised all way the way. The sound came again, this time louder than before and accompanied with the unmistakable sound of a muffled voice.

Sonic's brow furrowed and he tapped on the metal with his knuckles. He was awarded with a hollow sound and his mind ticked for a few seconds before a crazy idea occurred to him. Quickly, he ran up the beach for a few meters before turning back around and heading straight toward the robot. He curled into a ball when he was a few feet away and slammed into the hard shell. It cracked under his sharp quills and he bounced off, flying into the air. He quickly uncurled and kicked his legs out for some drag and landed on his hands and knees, barely winded but a bit dizzy.

The hedgehog twisted around when a loud _pop _followed by a hydraulic _hiss_ sounded from behind him, and his eyes widened when he beheld the sight of the slightly smoking robot. A small rabbit was trapped inside, various wires snaking away from its body and into the ruined metallic machine. The wires weren't intravenous, thankfully, though they looked like they were stuck onto the mobian's gray fur with some type of strong adhesive. The bunny was staring at the hedgehog with huge, unseeing eyes, and Sonic knelt next to the metal death trap. He shoved his gloved hand into the tangle of wires and wrapped his arms around the rabbit's body, yanking it free with all of his strength. The cables snapped from their holds on the 'bot, remaining steadfastly attached to the long-eared mobian's body.

As soon as the connection with the robot was severed, the rabbit seemed to come back to himself and he jerked in Sonic's hold. His large feet kicked into the hedgehog's stomach and the twelve year old instinctually let go to curl inward, his breath leaving him in a huge _huff_. The rabbit scurried away, practically falling over himself to get away.

"You're welcome," Sonic wheezed more to himself than the retreating mobian.

When he recovered, the hedgehog straightened and spied another robot nearby. This one was fashioned after a wasp, and he didn't get a chance to notice more beyond that, because it suddenly zoomed toward him and launched a plasma ball from a gun shaped after a stinger. He jumped as it exploded at his feet and curled into a ball instinctually. The flared blue quills on his back plowed into the robot through more luck than design and it went down in a flaming ball, the mobian inside ejected from the sheer force of the metal crippling inward.

Sonic landed on one knee, his hand fisted into the sand, and he used the planted leg to swing himself around toward the center of town. The bulk of the robots seemed to be condensed there, but a few were escaping into the forest in pursuit of the fleeing citizens. Suddenly, he felt a great heat flare up in the pit of his stomach, eating away at the calm ball that had settled there over the past few weeks. It licked at his heart, awakening the hardened warrior nerves he had been trying to suppress. Images of Robotropolis – of Argus being robotisized, of Sonia disappearing before his eyes, of Dingo almost grabbing his mother, of Sanctuary and the children that hid there, of Uncle Chuck's robotisized body, of his adopted father telling him _run, and don't look back_ – flashed before his eyes, and the screams filtering toward him from the Zone's one village blended with the symphony of carnage in his mind and his psyche _shifted_ – his vision tunneling and his ears jerking to full attention.

Suddenly, he was moving. Sonic's senses sped up, his eyes barely blinking as they categorized threats and paths of attack, his ears flicking with the most minute of changes as they triangulated the sound of motors and cries of people, his nose picking up the smell of plasma charging and fur burning, his skin dulling out the pain of body slamming a crab-shaped robot and then turning around and kicking another with a leg that could reach mach 1. The machines crumpled under his well timed attacks, popping open and freeing those trapped inside, but he barely noticed. Everything was a blur, and, soon enough every 'bot was gone, nothing more than shrapnel at his feet.

He hadn't been in Green Hill Zone for very long, but he felt like he owed these people. They offered him a second chance, unblemished with his title or expectations, and he knew what he needed to do. It hit him with the force of a ton of bricks, feeding the anger building just under his skin. It fueled him and he blasted into the forest, his steps ghosting over the foliage and his breath steady and even.

He went through a loop without thinking. It was natural in that moment, just another part of the path. His inner speedometer sang as he pressed against the sound barrier. Ahead of him, three of the ladybug 'bots rolled toward him, but he simply fell forward into a ball, his momentum carrying toward and through the threat, each and every robot splitting and cracking open. He came back to his feet in-stride and pressed forward again, darting over a bridge with the alacrity of the wind on his heels.

"_People of Green Hill Zone, today, June twenty-third, marks the beginning of the future!_" an obnoxious voice rang into the clear air, tainting it like the worst smog imaginable. "_You are now a part of the Robotnik Empire! Be happy, your bodies will soon be powering my precious badniks! You will allow me to take over the rest of this pathetic planet!"_ The voice cut off its miniature tirade with a loud cackle, and Sonic could imagine its owner throwing his head back in pure glee.

_Well, I found Robotnik…_ Sonic thought to himself as he bounced off a wasp-bot and used his leftover lift to smash his feet into a spring – not questioning the strange contraption for one second –catapulting himself onto the highest cliff above him. The sky was clearing up, allowing the beautiful blue of the South Island heavens to filter to life, and Sonic easily saw the dark smudge of Robotnik floating at the edge of the Zone in his Egg-O-Matic.

"_Resistance is futile!_" The human's voice came again, this time stronger than before. _"None of you are a match for my robots_!"

"That's where you're wrong, doc." Sonic mumbled to himself, emphasizing his point when he cracked through two crab-bots without trying. "These things are a piece of cake compared to those huge SWATbots, and I could take those out in my sleep!"

He quickly exploded through the whole Zone, and came upon Robotnik at the fringe of the forest. Ahead of him, he could see the smoking stack of a volcano and the barest hint of sulfur licked at his nose, teasing him with what was to come.

"Ah, Sonic," Dr. Robotnik's voice came from everywhere and it did not sound surprised when the hedgehog slammed out of the trees, ripping leaves from the palms with the force of his speed alone. "I see you've crashed my party, though I suppose it's reasonable." Sonic jerked to a stop as the human floated in front of him. "It _is_ your birthday after all. I even brought you a present!" More laughter accompanied that statement and, despite his attempts not to, Sonic's eyes widened when a large checkered _wrecking ball_ fell out of the bottom of the doctor's machine, extended by a thick, industrial chain. "Happy thirteenth birthday! I fear it may be your last!"

o0o

_***Modulation:*:Requiem***_

They don't have a body for the funeral.

They have scoured the whole blast zone, and have come up naught. Manic himself has been out there, and he has nothing to show for his troubles – not even Sonic's medallion. It is like his brother has never existed.

Sonia has been having a tough time with the whole process, so both Manic and Queen Aleena have simply not included her in the preparations. But, even they cannot protect her from the actual event, and she shuffles her way into the ceremony space with a blank face. She is clad in a dress so dark, it seems to embody the depths of space. Every step she takes is silent, and one look at her feet reveals that they are bare, her pink toes peeking out from beneath the fabric. Her hair and quills are pulled back into a ponytail, so tight it seems to pull at the skin of her face.

Manic looks every inch her brother as he stands next to her. Both of their faces are stony, unexpressive, yet somehow eternally sad. He is dressed in a simple suit jacket. It is hanging open in the front and rumpled a bit, as if he shrugged it on without a care in the world. He is wearing his usual sneakers and his spike cuffs, despite his mother's disapproval at the action, and his medallion is dull in the harsh, artificial lights. Sonia's is nowhere to be seen, but Manic knows that she is never far from it – it is too painful.

The two royal heirs are complete opposites, in both appearance and mental stability. While Sonia is very put together visually, her mind is broken. She has no idea how to cope with the loss of her brother, even with her mother and Manic to help hold her up. Her whole life, she has somehow avoided loss and death, despite where she lived. The only close comparison she can make to this situation is when Lady Windemere was kidnapped and robotisized, but, even then, she had her brothers to distract her. It never properly hit her that her adoptive mother was gone, and that kept her strong, provided fortitude that allowed her to fight for her kingdom with everything she had. Now though, there is nothing to distract her. Even with the successful reemergence of her mother as the queen and her future crowning of Crown Princess of Mobius, she cannot break through the fog blocking everything. She can only accept the pain and hurt and try to not let it overrun her.

Manic, on the other hand, looks messy and unkempt, but he is a wall of reason and strength. Somehow, with Sonic's passing, he has managed to come into his own. He is the only man of the family now, and he is determined to keep his sister and mother safe and to provide them with what they need and want. He is sure that Sonia would call his thought process boorish and sexist, but he cannot help but believe that Sonic would feel the same way if he were here. The fact that Sonic died doing just that sends a subdued chill through the green hedgehog's body and he leans into Sonia's side, lending her a bit of support as she offers a condolence-extending noble a small, fake smile, doing her best to seem gracious to their sympathy.

The woman nods in response and moves to take a seat. Manic cannot help but feel slighted for his brother. None of these people knew him; they have no right to be at his funeral. Sonic probably wouldn't have been able to stand any of these people… Rich, stuck up, lazy, and self-righteous, none of them know the meaning of a mobium or hard work. His big brother would have preferred that they have a private ceremony, with only the family, some of his resistance friends, like Cyrus, and maybe Bartleby if he was feeling generous, in attendance. All of these simpering, pretending to be sad nobles are slowly picking at Manic's self control. Every new sweet smelling female that tries to hug him is another chip at the wall, and each large, male hand that slaps on his shoulder, accompanied by a deep voice telling him he is a good man for being so strong, act as a hammer blow to his restraint.

Sonia seems to sense his discontent and she shifts a bit so she is leaning back onto him. They hold each other up subtly as another woman tries to engulf them in a hug, and Sonia easily distracts her with small talk. They are the only two left of a long legacy; they are the only two that can tell the real story – Sonic's story. It is the only story that matters, in Manic's opinion, but he knows that that is not true, if only because of the way that his mother has been going on and on about how they needed to reform political alliances. Of course, she did not come out and say that the funeral was the perfect place to do that – sympathy could go a long way when dealing with a mother that just lost her child – but Manic could not help but suspect that it was implied.

He is being unfair to his mother though. She is just as torn up about Sonic's death as they are. Maybe even more so, if he is completely honest with himself. She never got to truly meet him. Sonia and Manic at least got a few months to get to know their brother as a person and a hero, but their mother is not so lucky. The only thing that she has is Manic's stories, and he feels as if those are not even half as great as the real thing. It is impossible for him to explain to her the sound of Sonic humming under his breath as he strummed at his guitar, the smell of his breath after he guzzled down a chili dog, the feel of those rock hard muscles – coiled like a spring under his plush, blue fur – when he hugged you, the sound of his voice, or the way that he smiled – something so rare that Sonia had been convinced that it didn't exist. Manic has seen that smile though, and it had been one image that burned itself into his psyche, as if his mind had realized that it was important that he remember his brother happily.

Soon enough, the line of people in front of the twins dwindles and ends and they are allowed to take their seats. They sit in the front, right across from the empty casket, and Manic glances away when his mother starts to speak, greeting everyone and introducing the man who will lead the ceremony. She then bequeaths the pulpit to him and pads over to her two remaining children. She sits down beside Manic and places her arm around both of them, pulling them toward her in a hug. Manic is drawn against her side, sandwiched next to Sonia, and he is suddenly aware of the way the queen's hands are shaking. She heaves a deep breath and her whole body shudders against her son, as if relaxing, and Manic cannot help but feel a bit bad for his earlier criticisms.

Peace settles over the small family of three, and Sonia worms her hand into Manic's larger palm, gathering strength from her brother's rough gloves. Manic finally feels safe in that moment. He realizes that he has not felt this way since Sonic departed, but the close proximity with his family – something he never thought he'd have – fortifies his might and security and he starts to think that maybe, _just maybe_, they will all manage to get through this.

Somehow.

"Happy birthday, my dears," Aleena whispers under the hum of prayer, and Manic fells the tension finally go out of his shoulders. This is a new beginning, and he is determined to live as much as he can. For his brother.

o0o

_**...:Cadenza:…**_

Sonic was at an impasse when the factory finally fell. Not literally, of course – there were still newly freed mobians inside, after all – but the whole place was shut down. The six Emeralds in his quills hummed at him as he chased Robotnik to his Egg-O-Matic, urging him to _end it_, just solve the problem all together and save Mobius from further strife. But, he couldn't. Despite everything, all of the trouble that Robotnik created for his life in Robotropolis, all of the people he robotisized, the families that Sonic had lost and gained and lost over and over again, Sonic could not do as the gems wished. He didn't owe Robotnik anything, but a small part of him couldn't help but think that the human's plow for power had shaped Sonic's life. He had enabled him to get away from that repressive life of castles, posturing, fancy dinners, and rules. Of course, he had caused suffering for so many others, but Sonic granted the human one last free play.

Sonic let him go. He watched him float away, in the direction of Westside Island, and he knew that was where he was heading next. The hedgehog would have to follow, if only because he had just created another responsibility for himself. He had deluded himself for far too long that Robotnik was nothing more than a threat – he was a release, a way for Sonic to justify leaving behind his home and family.

Sonic could not kill, he knew that. Killing was too easy. It was the quick way out, and he could not have such a cheat on his conscience. Besides, only he would be held responsible, and he was sure that he would be praised if he ever did get the nerve to end Robotnik's life. He could not – _would not_ – be hailed as a hero for taking another's life.

So, he allowed the human to escape, gazed after his retreating form as he floated over the Southside Sea, and he felt _good_. It was almost selfish to feel so great, but as he gazed back at the mobians stumbling toward him, some already thanking him for saving their lives, he felt something click into place. This was what he was meant to do – keep these people safe from threats like Robotnik.

That was why he let the Emeralds go when he made his way back to Green Hill Zone. Someone else might be in need of them – who was he to keep them from their jobs? They tugged themselves out of his hands and circled above him, creating a cyclone of color and light, and he felt that ball of peace settle back into his belly, finally shoving the anger that had been present for most of his life away; it would never return, not if he had anything to say about it. The tension that had held his shoulders taught for as long as he could remember _finally_ released and he smiled, craning his head back to watch as the gems winked out of sight. He allowed his face to show the wonder he was feeling, and his thoughts quickly turned to that fabled seventh Emerald – mentioned to him a lifetime ago. He couldn't help but marvel about it, wonder if he would ever see it, and if the others were joining it where ever they were headed.

That Emerald embodied his future. It was all a mystery, but he was excited to see what came about. He was done living in his past, feeling guilty over his decisions and his failures. He was through with the doubt and indecisive moments where he just did nothing. He was now a hero – _the _hero – and he felt like it more in that moment than he did in all of his moments in the resistance in Robotropolis. He was finally, _finally_, no longer Prince Sonic Hedgehog, lost crown prince of Mobius; he was now fully and completely Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius, the one who _could_.

And the future?

All he could do was live and run with whatever came at him. After all, that was what he was best at.

* * *

_Well, now that we've gotten through Sonic 1, prepare for a deluge of notes about stuff that I don't feel like explaining in-prose. __**This stuff is important so stop skimming and read it kthx.**_

_As is painfully obvious, I had a bit of a job shuffling the ages around so they worked with the messy timeline I set up. The result is that Sonic, Manic, and Sonia were 12 during the events of Underground, and Sonic is therefore 13 when the SEGA stuff starts. That means that Tails is five when he meets Sonic, and Knuckles is fourteen. I know that doesn't line up with the head canon for SEGA, but I had to rework it a bit. Hopefully, it won't mess up your inner equilibrium too much. _

_Sonic, Manic, and Sonia's birthdays are supposed to be on March 4__th__, but I'm a SEGA nerd and Sonic's birthday will be forever on June 23__rd__. Deal with it. (Plus, summer birthday. It works better with everything.)_

_I spent a good while puzzling over how I wanted to set up the planet for this. You see, my best friend and I have this preconceived version of Mobius that I use for all of my purely gamed based stuff, and it's pretty straight forward (i.e. most of the humans live on a central 'mainland' while most of the Mobians live on large islands), but I had a heck of a time making it work with Underground and its weird layout. So, I shot all predetermined planet blueprints to hell and moved stuff around. The result is that the place that Aleena ruled is now called 'The Mobian Kingdom' as opposed to Mobius (which is what the whole planet is called), and it spans in a semicircle on the mainland. There are human cities nearby (such as Empire City or Spagonia or Westopolis, or Station Square or what have you), but the Kingdom is pretty isolated and the good ye olde homo sapiens don't want to stick their noses into others' business because they didn't want Eggman to attack them for meddling, but we see how well that worked out. There are still Mobian islands – like South Island, Westside Island, and Cocoa Island – but they're separate from the Kingdom. They're democratic, so they don't want anything to do with Aleena and her set-in ways of the middle ages. _

_Something that I've noticed about most of these Underground/SEGA crossovers is that a lot of authors like to choke the story with SEGA characters. Like, I get that Sonic values all of his friends and stuff, but jeeze, he doesn't need them for everything. Having too many characters is a problem that a lot of (beginning) authors have, and I may not be a beginner, but I learn from observation and I'm not going down that road. Besides, I pride myself on doing things differently, so I'm cutting the cast down a bunch. I'm trying to keep a nice even ratio between SEGA and Underground. Underground has Aleena, Sonia, and Manic, so SEGA will contribute Sonic (who will always be considered SEGA; I don't care if he is the show's namesake), Tails, and Knuckles (who was also in Underground until I banished him from it). Amy's not coming in, Cream's not showing up, Rouge is busy stealing stuff, the Babylon Rouges are doing whatever it is they do when Jet's not being all 'I'M THE FASTEST THING ALIVE NOT YOU', the Chaotix are busy playing at being detectives, Silver is in the future, Blaze is in a different dimension, and no one cares where Big is. The only character that MIGHT show up that's not from Team Sonic is Mister Ultimate Moody McEmo Faker (the artificial creation formally known as Shadow) if I can work out a way to shove him in. (Because I pander.)_

_I probably just alienated a bunch of readers with that paragraph, because you wanted to see Sonic's friends' reactions to him being a prince and stuff, amirite? Well, this story is _Sonic's_. Not theirs. We are following him as he evolves to appreciate his past and look towards his future and all of that inspirational stuff. Tails is in it because his is the only opinion that Sonic honestly cares about (and I'm a Sonic/Tails brotherhood nut), and he plays the role of Mr. Plot Device later on. Knuckles is in it because _Knuckles.

_Of course, Eggman's there too, but he's so much of a character that if I included him in the weigh in, he'd tip the scales so much that the world would explode. _

_Reviews are cherished. _


	3. Stretto

_Foray_ – a Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic Underground crossover

_2 – Stretto_

**Notes:** Thanks for the reviews guys! Though, a bunch of you were just commenting on my cutting down of the cast. ^^; Review the prose too plz?

**WARNINGS:** I lean very heavily on the Game Gear game _Tails Adventure_ in this chapter. Express understanding is not needed, but it would help if the readers knew its basic premise. Mentionings of murder and maiming, though the actual acts do not occur on-screen. Also, Tails' characterization is a bit off from the games, but that might because I'm playing off of the _TA_ angle. I won't say anymore because it'll ruin the chapter for you, but just know that as both of our heroes get older, they will slowly morph into their game incarnations. (Sonic could also be considered OOC because he's oh so very serious in these early chapters.) More drama bombs too, as well as Sonic talking to inanimate objects and a bit of flubbed technobabble. Oh, _aaaaangst_ in droves, though this angst is of a different variety than the first two chapters. Tails' cuteness may kill you. Watch out for that. Choppy chapter of choppiness because damn I'm longwinded and I'm trying to get GOIN'.

I bumped the rating up to T for safety. I touch on a few delicate issues this chapter, so I figured I should cover my back. Also, this thing is so long and I'm so very tired, I haven't gone over it with a fine-toothed comb yet. Excuse any typos. I'll overhaul it by the end of the weekend, scout's honor.

_Enjoy~!_

* * *

…_**:**__**Mezzo:…**_

Sonic knew he had to get to Emerald Hill.

After letting the Emeralds go in Green Hill, he had ambled aimlessly for a few days before coming across a junkyard on the outskirts of Starlight Zone. It was completely deserted, not a soul in sight, and Sonic's inner compass pulled him toward it. Never one to question whim, he had allowed his feet to take him into the fenced in area, his ears at high alert for any signs of life, and he padded around for a few hours before he eventually found what he hadn't known he was looking for.

It was a beautiful red biplane. Or rather, it _used_ to be a beautiful red biplane. Decrepit and run down, the old thing was gutted almost completely, with only the bare bones of an engine visible and a dangerously bent propeller. Sonic padded up to it, his steps nearly silent, and ran his hand down the side, the peeling paint falling to the ground like small snowflakes as he did so.

"What's your story?" he asked the inanimate plane, patting it. "I bet it's way more interesting than mine." Belatedly, he realized that holding a conversation with something that was nothing more than metal and mechanics would probably put him on a one-way trip on the insane train to crazy town, but he couldn't be bothered to care. He needed someone – _something_ – to talk to that wouldn't judge him. He hadn't had that in a long time.

Manic was probably the last person he had spoken to that didn't automatically criticize whatever came out of his mouth, and Sonic was starting to miss his little brother a bit. It was a dull ache in his heart, one that was barely there, but still noticeable, and he wished he could go and see how he was doing. By this point, Sonia would probably be getting ready to be crowned, but what would happen to Manic? Probably shoved off to the side like always – just the unimportant youngest triplet.

"I miss both of them," he told the biplane, "but Sonia can take care of herself. Manic's still vulnerable…"

It was strange, considering how they had both grown up. Of all things, he expected his brother to be the hardened thief, able to handle any situation and come out on top, and Sonia the simpering princess, begging to be taken care of and protected. In some aspects, they _were_ those things, he supposed, as Sonia had the snobbish personality and high maintenance need to always look good, and Manic could make the best out of any bad situation, but he still felt like his leaving would have hurt Manic more than his sister. Sonic's reasoning was strange even to himself and he scowled before shaking his head, turning his thoughts to other things.

The hedgehog hopped onto the lower wing, landing as lightly as he could. It creaked dangerously and Sonic felt his world sway for a few seconds before the plane settled. Sonic sighed, thanking Chaos above that he hadn't snapped the wing – it would be as good as useless if that happened. He patted the plane again, silently thanking it for holding up, and crossed to the opposite end of the wing. He easily leapt across the gap between the wings and the tail, landing on his toes on the tailplane. The unstable flaps pitched as he landed on them, but he grabbed the tail, using the bend as a spring board to push himself up and into a straddling position on the tail.

The body of the plane was sturdy, despite how run down it looked, and Sonic ran his gloved hand down the tail, rubbing the dirt away. There was the barest hint of white lettering there and he scrubbed a bit more before a large letter _T_ was completely revealed. Quirking an eyebrow, he leaned a little further over so he could get a longer reach on the tail.

"_Tornado_ huh?" he asked once the full word was exposed. The letting was stylized and the paint looked newer than the rest, "not a bad name." The hedgehog slithered to the ground and dusted his hands off. "Well, we've got a lot of work ahead of us if we want to get you back into the air where you belong, don't we?"

The plane was stoically silent, and Sonic shook his head at his own antics before bouncing into the seat. He would start on the repairs tomorrow. For now, he was in desperate need for some decent sleep, and _The Tornado_'s seat was the best place he could think of.

o0o

_***Modulation:*:Fortepiano***_

Sonia should be happy. It is the morning of her coronation – the beginning of the day that she will be declared the future ruler of her kingdom – but all that she feels is a suffocating depression. It is not the same as the mourning pain she had been plunged into for weeks after Sonic's death; this sadness is sharper, almost guilty, and she can do nothing to keep it away. She cannot help but feel like she is taking something that does not belong to her – the crown belongs to Sonic.

She remembers those days in the van when all three of them squabbled over who would rule. In her mind, they all seem so much younger, so naïve to real life, and she can't help but wish for a return to those days. She fought with Sonic fiercely for the crown back then, swearing up and down that he would be a horrible ruler. He was too brash, too quick to jump the gun, and too unfair. His sense of right and wrong was too strong and he would judge those that he felt were even a little immoral. Really, he was the worst choice of ruler and probably the last person Sonia would follow, but she can't help but feel like she is stealing from him.

Back then, the arguments were fun, promises of a future that they would share together, no matter who would rule. Manic was never that much of an active participant, though he fought when provoked. He never really wanted the crown – not like Sonia. Her brothers were similar in that aspect. Sonic always seemed like he was only fighting with her because she wanted him too. He always shied away from any serious talks on how he would take over from their mother when he was able, and Sonia had always wrote it off as Sonic being Sonic; he would figure it out when he got there.

Now though, she realizes that it didn't matter – he was never going to rule. However he would have taken over was inconsequential, but Sonia can't help but think that it all probably would have had to do with running or chili dogs or something equally unimportant, but he would have eventually gotten everything done. She is sure of that. His methods may not have been normal, but they were effective.

Sonia finds herself padding out of the palace while it is still dark, the light of dawn barely peaking over the horizon. She is barefoot – has not worn a pair of shoes since _that day_ – and the grass is soft on her feet, pleasant almost. The world is near-silent, the nocturnal creatures turning in for a nice sleep and the diurnals awaiting the light of the sun to reemerge, and she quietly makes her way to the clearing behind her home.

It is a small, intimate space, marked off with a three-sided square of trees from the rest of the lawn. At one time, it held the remains and memories of her ancestors, but Robotnik decimated the small cemetery. Now, it holds only one tombstone, a small, rounded slab of granite. It shines like new in the low light, and the pink female pads up to it with her hands fists at her side. The closer she gets, the clearer the words become, and tears are already pricking at her eyes, despite her effort to hold them back. When she gets close enough, she drops to her knees in the wet grass and stares at it, analyzing every chip in the rock.

A small carving, a perfect replication of Sonic's medallion, is etched into the stone, along with the dates of his birth and death. The words are cut deeper, meant to last as long as the grave marker itself, and she reaches out with shaking fingers to trace them, her mouth shaping the sounds as she does so.

_Prince Sonic Hedgehog_

_He will always be waiting._

Sonia's lips quirk as she reads the inscription. Manic designed the gravestone, she remembers. It had been the one meeting her brother and mother had made her attend – not that she paid any attention while it was going on.

"Maybe we should put a chili dog on it," Manic chuckled, glancing at Sonia to see if his joke had hit her. It didn't. "Or maybe a picture of him…"

"We don't have any recent pictures of Sonic, dear," the queen forced out, her tone hinting that that fact was painful for her.

"I can draw one," Manic offered, grabbing a sheet of paper from the center of the table and sketching a rough picture of his brother with a few strokes of his pencil. He held it up for his mother and sister's approval.

Sonia was struck dumb by the perfect depiction of her blue brother. His smiling face was bright, cheerful, yet it was flawlessly _him_; the swoop of the quills, the hard edge to his eyes, the way he balanced his weight on his toes – always ready to take off at a moment's notice… She turned her shocked stare from the page to her remaining male twin, forcing her unresponsive vocal chords to work.

"You can _draw_?" It was the only thing she could say and she saw Manic's expression sour at her response.

"A'course." He shrugged. "I had to draw blueprints for my 'board and the van – not that hard to switch to other things. Sonic used to have me draw things for him all the time – the places we went to and stuff."

_Of course Sonic knew_, Sonia thought to herself, forcing her face into a neutral expression, _Sonic knew everything about Manic. Those two were practically married they were so close._ She knew she was being unfair to the two of them, but she couldn't gather the strength to care. She had always been the third wheel, the odd one out when it came to the three of them: the only girl, the only one with a proper education, the only one with manners and decorum. Sonic and Manic were more similar than she liked to notice, despite everything that separated them. They always kept secrets from her and they constantly spied on her and got into her business. They were an unstoppable team – always looking out for their sister and constantly aware of everything going on around them.

"It's a lovely picture, Manic." Their mother held her hand out for the drawing and the boy easily bequeathed it to her. She hummed thoughtfully in the back of her throat as she gazed at it. "Can you draw his medallion?"

"Sure." Manic accepted the paper back and he drew a perfect imitation of their brother's necklace. "He didn't use it as much as we did…" he mumbled while he drew, his brow furrowing as he messed up the guitar necks and he flipped the pencil over to erase and try again. "He usually ran when he could. Always told us that he's_ 'waaaiiiting_.'" He chuckled, his eyes far away as he remembered. "He's still the fastest; the first to find out what happens after all of this." He waved his hands around him, the pencil balancing between his gloved fingers. "Guess he'll always be waiting for us to catch up." He sighed and stared at his drawing for a few seconds before handing it back.

"Perfect." Aleena smiled at her son. "What do you think, Sonia?"

The girl couldn't stop staring at her remaining brother, as if he had just unlocked some secret to the universe. She didn't reply. Instead, she rose stiffly to her feet and stomped out of the room, her bare feet silent on the hard floors.

Sonia comes back to herself with a shake of her head. She has slumped forward during her daydreaming and is nearly leaning on the gravestone. She jerks back, nearly falling over herself, and lands on her backside with a painful jolt. She hisses out a breath and glares at the marker as if it is at fault.

"I bet this is just hilarious for you," she mumbles toward the silent rock. She can almost see Sonic sitting on top of it, one leg tucked under the other, the second swinging back and forth, a smirk on his face as he watches her. "Let's watch Sonia fall apart when she gets everything she wants. Haha."

The Sonic mind-apparition doesn't respond and she scowls at her actions. "I guess you think I'm pathetic huh?" She is speaking straight to the tombstone now and she reaches out to touch it again. "I just don't feel right… I'm not supposed to be the next in line. _You_ are."

She doesn't expect a response, so when a male voice says, "Better you than me," she jumps. A chuckle comes from behind her and she jerks around to glare at her visitor.

"That wasn't funny," she reprimands as the other sits down beside her, pulling his vest closer to his body.

"It was hilarious where I was, sis," Manic replies, smiling ruefully at her. When she doesn't smile back, his face turns serious. "What's up? Why this hate fest?"

The pink female sighs, rubbing her eyes with her fisted hands. "I don't know, Manic. I miss him, I guess. I need to talk to him."

"I get that." Manic reaches out and places his arm around her shoulders. The weight is comforting. "It's peaceful – been out here a couple of times."

"The wind reminds me of him," she mumbles, looking down at her hands. "It's calm and free, like he wanted to be. It must have been hard on him…" She trails off, glancing up at Manic to see if he understood what she was getting at.

"Sonic never did anything he didn't want to," the green hedgehog asserts. "He probably would have left if we tried to force him. He was as free as he allowed himself to be." Wise words thus uttered, he breaks away from his sister to lean in and touch his brother's memorial.

Silence falls for a few moments as the twin royals stare at the slab of rock that signifies all that they have left of their brother. Only memories – memories that are fading too quickly for Sonia's liking. Already, she is struggling to recall the sound of his voice, the sight of his happy expression, the thrum of power when he activated his medallion. She crosses her arms, shivering, and Manic pulls her in closer than before.

"…you don't think he just left this time, do you?" she ventures into quiet. She has no idea how her thoughts have become so dangerous, but she has to know – needs to see if Manic has been pondering the same thing.

The green male stiffens, his whole being cracking to attention as if her words have struck a chord in him. "No," he answers, his tone peculiarly without force, "you saw the explosion. There was no way he survived that. We didn't even find his medallion, and it's fireproof."

_That's exactly the point…_ she thinks, but chooses not to respond, instead snuggling a little deeper into her brother's comforting hold. "Do you think he's watching over us?"

Manic snorts. "Oh yeah, and he's probably makin' comments the whole time."

"Wouldn't be Sonic without snide remarks," Sonia hums in response, leaning her head back against his shoulder. She is completely relaxed now, and the wind teases her hair. She can almost imagine that Sonic is agreeing with them.

o0o

…_**:**__**Mezzo:…**_

A few months later, Sonic found himself running out of supplies. The junkyard was expansive, but it was still just that – junk. The _Tornado_'s body was worse off than he originally assumed and he was unable to find the correct things to repair the plane. Out of desperation – a combined need to fix the plane and to get away from this island – he traveled all the way back to Green Hill. He didn't realize where he was going until he was standing on Apollo's doorstep. The aged lion had survived Robotnik's attack with a fierceness Sonic had not seen before, and he took a personal affront to Sonic when the hedgehog released him from an Egg-Prison, even refusing to speak to him when he saw him in town once it was all over. Really, Sonic should not have come here. The odds that Cyrus' grandfather could – _would_ – help him were slim, but he didn't have any other options.

Heaving a sigh, he held his hand up to knock, already bracing himself for the conversation that was sure to follow, but before his knuckles could touch the wood, the door swung open, a pair of wise eyes glaring at him like he was a stain on a favorite shirt.

"What do you want, boy?" Apollo ground out, his tone trying and failing to be civil. Sonic opened his mouth to answer, but the lion must have decided that it didn't really matter what his reply was going to be, because he grunted and turned again. "Just come in."

Sonic tried his hardest not to make an affronted sound but he padded through the door nonetheless. The man led him back to the kitchen, sitting in the same chair as last time, and he waited expectantly for the hedgehog to do the same. Hopping into his seat, Sonic suddenly felt even more foolish than before, though he made sure his expression stayed blank.

"Surprised you're still here," the lion began when Sonic failed to offer up a reason for his current occupation of his kitchen table. "I thought you would be on Westside by now; heard that's where Robotnik ran off to."

Sonic winced. Apollo's tone had been judgmental, and the question hanging between those words was obvious enough. _Why did you let him get away in the first place?_ "I can't get to Westside, not yet. I found this old biplane, but I don't have the supplies to fix it."

"And you came here to ask me for help? Don't look so surprised, kid," he continued when he caught sight of Sonic's expression. "I can read you like a book – not a very interesting book, but that doesn't matter. Can you even fly a plane?"

"I learned in the resistance." Sonic's fur bristled at the jab at his abilities. "Cyrus taught me."

Apollo held his hands up. "Don't get defensive. I was just making sure that you're not going to waste my resources and crash this plane right after it's fixed. What's wrong with it?"

"You're going to help me?" The hedgehog's tone was surprised, and his eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, princeling. I don't need a reason."

Sonic forced a huff out of his nose, biting back the scathing reply. "I'm not a princeling."

"Very well. You are the Hero of South Island. You are even with the Savior of Cocoa Island, but you don't see me offering to fix his plane for free."

Sonic's ears rose a bit as that small fact sailed into his brain, burrowing deep into the section labeled _'find out about this_'. He didn't know nearly enough about the lands outside of Mobotropolis and any information he learned about them was a precious treasure. "The Savior of Cocoa Island?" He tried his hardest to keep his tone neutral, but it had a revealing lilt that gave him away.

"You've never heard of the Savior of Cocoa Island?" Apollo shook his head. "Figures."

"I was fighting a war, okay?" Sonic declared, his voice a touch too loud.

The lion held his hands up again, placating him. "You're so defensive, Sonic the Hedgehog. The Savior of Cocoa Island was the person who singlehandedly fought off the Battle Kukku Army when they tried to take over the island. He used small explosives – bombs – and managed to collect six of the Emeralds. No one knows what happened to him afterwards. He just disappeared and the Emeralds released."

Sonic's eyes were comically wide. "When did this happen?"

"About six months ago. You wouldn't have heard about it."

"And he found six of the Emeralds?" Sonic whistled. "I'm impressed. Don't tell me he was a hedgehog too…"

"No, he was a fox. Used machines and explosives. That's about it." Apollo's voice left no room for a furthered conversation. "Now, what's wrong with your plane?"

Sonic rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you see, I found it in a junk yard and there's no telling what _exactly_ is wrong with it…"

Apollo had enough tact to groan.

000

With a lot of luck, elbow grease, and borrowed parts, Sonic finally managed to pull the _Tornado_ together enough to coax it to life. It purred happily at him, despite the way the propeller was still a little bent – not enough to cause a problem, but still a little worrisome – and he managed to direct it into the sky. The flight to Westside was short, but about halfway there, one of the dials fell and the plane started to cough and jerk under his hands. He was lucky to land (crash) on a small beach away from most people, though the close proximity of the water set his teeth on edge.

He had searched the Zone for a mechanic – _anyone_, really – that could help him, and had come to find out that the closest one was in Metropolis Zone, all the way across the island. He was pretty much stuck. The _Tornado_ wouldn't start, no matter how much he dug around in the wires and engine and pleaded with it, begging and cursing everything, mechanical or otherwise. He was sure that this was karma's way of laughing at him, allow him to get to Westside, but take away his one way off. Har-dee-freakin'-har.

Sonic scowled as he lugged a toolbox across the beach to the _Tornado_, stepping as lightly as he could to avoid getting sand in his shoes. He had managed to haggle the tools from a local hardware store – a smile and being a hero went a long way – and he hoped that he would be able to at least get a _little_ closer to figuring out what the problem was. The fact that he didn't recognize most of the tools was troublesome, but Sonic didn't let it bother him. He could probably decipher what they did eventually.

"Well, _Tornado_, let's see if I can finally get you fixed, huh?" he asked the plane, dropping the box into the sand with a _thunk_.

"The fuselage is cracked. You're lucky it didn't blow up in the air," the biplane replied. Sonic froze, his eyes widening, and he choked. He had been holding regular conversation with the _Tornado_ for the past few months, and he knew that this wasn't particularly healthy, but he had figured that if it didn't _respond_ he would be fine…

Falling backwards a few steps, Sonic ticked through his mental state. He didn't _feel_ crazy, but wasn't that one of the usual symptoms? You never _believed_ you were insane…

Luckily for the hedgehog's state of mind, a small furry head popped out from under the plane. It was golden, with huge ears and large dark eyes, and that was all Sonic managed to see before his diminutive visitor squeaked in alarm. He – Sonic assumed it was a male – stumbled from under the plane, literally falling over himself to get away.

"I'm sorry!" he yelped, holding his hands up as he rushed away. "I didn't know this was Sonic the Hedgehog's plane!"

"No wait!" Sonic reached out toward the little one, getting ready to run after him, but the other did something completely unexpected. _He took off_.

Not like Sonic usually did – at a run. He literally took off, _into the air_. Sonic skidded to a stop, his eyes wide and in full out ogle mode as the fox flew above his reach. He darted away, moving almost as quickly as Sonic at a jog, disappearing into the tree line.

"Well…" It was all Sonic could say, and he felt it was a perfect summarization of what had just happened. "That was—" He shook his head. "I don't even know what that was."

000

The flying fox thing had fixed the _Tornado_. Not all of it, but he had taken a considerable amount of work out of Sonic's hands. The cracked fuselage had been patched up, some of the loose wires – left that way because Sonic had had _no idea_ what they were for – spliced together, and other small things Sonic hadn't even realized where broken mended. When he started it, it didn't cough and then groan at him like it usually did; it _purred_. He could only stare stupidly at the dials as they soared to their correct positions, the readouts finally making sense to the hedgehog.

He was stumped. Well and truly stumped. That fox couldn't have been older than six. How on Mobius did he know about advanced mechanics?

Sonic had a sinking suspicion that there was something else going on here. He had heard rumors in the village about a 'freak', some guy that the rest of the people didn't want anything to do with. The hedgehog hadn't really paid any attention to it at the time, as he was too preoccupied with the _Tornado_, but now he couldn't help but wonder if that flying fox had had something to do with it.

So, he traveled back into town, this time with the intention to find out more about his strange plane-fairy. He figured that the best place to start was in the hardware store. Anyone with enough technical know-how to fix a plane had to have a need of tools; that kind of thing didn't come without _practice. _

The bell jangled as Sonic walked in and the man at the counter looked up and smiled when he saw the hedgehog. He quickly hopped off of his stool as Sonic approached.

"Mister Hedgehog," he nodded, "in need of more tools?"

Sonic's eyes narrowed a bit as he took in the man. He was a green rabbit in a brown vest and work boots, tool belt slung low on his hips; his nametag declared that his name was Ted and Sonic rocked on his feet a bit before finally answering.

"Nah, I don't need any tools. You pretty much gave me one of everything." He paused when Ted chuckled, sending him a small smile. "Actually, I needed to ask you something… You see, I had a – um – visitor earlier today, and I was wondering if you knew anything about him."

Ted's large ears twitched a bit at Sonic's words. "Depends on the person…"

"I didn't catch his name, but he was a small fox, about this tall –" he held a hand up to the approximate height of the kit "– wicked smart. He fixed my plane."

There was a pause as Ted stared at Sonic, seemingly trying to gauge the hedgehog's expression before he replied. A sigh. "I know him."

"Why'd'you sound so upset about it? He buy his tools from a different shop or somethin'?"

"That boy is… Well, let's just say that most of the village doesn't like him."

"'The rest of the village'?" Sonic echoed, voice and expression confused.

"I don't have a problem with him, honestly. He came in here and bought some tools a few months ago – used rings and everything. Wasn't a problem; extremely polite. But, he's...detached. Something happened to him before he came to Emerald Hill."

"Did he move in from another Zone or something?"

"No," a head shake, "he came off one of the cargo ships that ferry supplies to and from Cocoa Island. Didn't have anything besides a pouch of rings and a screwdriver."

A thrum went through Sonic's mind as the rabbit spoke. "Cocoa Island? Wasn't that place attacked by some army?"

"Yeah, the Battle Kukkus, horrible bunch. They were chased off though. No one knows exactly what happened, and I think that might have something to do with the boy's situation." When Sonic made a confused sound, the shopkeeper elaborated, "He's an orphan – lives on his own. I don't know where exactly, and he avoids the rest of the village. The other children bully him; I've had to break up a few fights because the other adults don't care."

Sonic could feel a bit of anger dripping into his veins, but he took a deep breath. He would not revert back to that – not yet. "Why?" was all he could say.

"The boy's a mutant… I thought you saw him? He has two tails."

Sonic sucked in a deep breath. _Two_ tails? That was one of the most extreme mutations the hedgehog had heard of. However, because he had grown up in Robotropolis, the whole concept of such a thing wasn't a huge shock for him. Robotnik had polluted the water and air, and a lot of children born during his reign had some type of mutation. Most of them weren't noticeable – an unusual eye color, elevated blood sugar level, slightly larger ears – but to have an extra tail…

That didn't matter though – not to him.

"But… why would the village hate him so much?"

"Things are different out here than they are in the city Zones. The people don't like things that are different, and the extra tail along with that brain of his…" The rabbit shrugged. "He's _too_ different for them."

Sonic was struck silent at that. To be discriminated against because of something out of your control… It was a helpless concept, and it made Sonic slightly sick to think about. Suddenly, he couldn't stay in this shop – no, in this _Zone_ – any longer, and he thanked Ted for his help before backtracking out of the store. He needed to run and clear his head, or else risk losing control of his anger.

He blasted toward the beach, leaving behind a trail of blue as he went.

000

…_**:Coda:…**_

When Sonic eventually managed to make it back to Emerald Hill Zone, it was with a brighter outlook on life. Running always managed to lift the dark clouds from his life, even if only for a little while. There was something about being able to escape every problem. The feel of the wind going through his quills, the pure _agility_ he used as his feet ghosted over the ground, barely touching down, the way he could center his breathing – _in, out, in, out_ – the way everything slowed down, moving at a quarter of its normal speed as he darted through, avoiding any and everything with ease. It was the purest form of escape, and he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Green palms and thick grass surrounded him on all sides, the sea between here and the distant island glittering happily. Small Mobians splashed in the water and Sonic felt a small flash apprehension at the sight. A rough twitch shuddered up his backbone and his quills flared out instinctively, as if trying to fend off an attack. He quickened his steps, his shoes tapping on the boardwalk lining the beach, trying to keep his mind off the close proximity of the water.

Suddenly, some kids ran across his vision before cutting across the boardwalk feet in front of him, dripping water the whole time. Sonic's eyes twitched as some of the droplets splashed onto him and he had to bite his lip to keep himself from verbally attacking his peers.

Instead, he watched as they dashed towards what looked like a small pile of sand. They converged on the mound, yelling loudly. The noise overpowered the beach, making almost everyone turn in that direction.

_Who knew little kids could be so _loud?

But, over all of the clamor, a small voice called in a high pitched tone. Sonic couldn't hear what it was saying but he could tell from the tone that it was a call for help – a call he couldn't ignore.

It took him all of two seconds to dart across the beach and push himself into the crowd of young boys. He was careful as he shoved past them, making sure they didn't nick themselves on his sharp quills, but still rough enough so they got the message to _move_. Most caught his drift when they turned to see who had grabbed their shoulder; eyes wide, they sputtered at him before he stepped past. Others thought large of themselves and attempted to obstruct him. These he sent sprawling into the sand, hiding his mirth as they stared at him dumbly.

As he worked his towards the middle, the number of those trying to cease his movement increased and outnumbered those smart enough to move out of his way. In a few moments time, he had over half of the large group nursing sore tails and the rest ogling at him, stuck in the disbelief that a living legend had just _touched them_. He shook his head at the younger males, trying to think of time when he acted that way. Of course, his mind was biased and couldn't pull up a single incidence, but he was sure that if he asked his sister, there would surely be many. However, he pushed these thoughts away as he finally came upon the middle of the group.

What he saw there both infuriated him and disappointed him, if such a combination of emotions was possible.

Three figures wrestled in the sand, two clearly overpowering the third. In fact, it wasn't so much _wrestling_ as _beating up_. The third person was younger, if the voice being yelled above the cries of the other two boys was any indication, and he was firmly pressed into the ground by the other two. One of the older boys – some kind of cat species by the looks of it – was pounding roughly on the smaller's chest and face, smiling almost gleefully as his victim cried out with each hit. The other – a coyote – was pinning his arms down so he couldn't move to fight back. Sonic couldn't tell what species the one receiving the beating was, because he was so obscured by the others.

_It made him sick._

He saw red. His dark eyes narrowed dangerously and his fists clenched, pure _rage_ – a rage he hadn't felt since Robotnik attacked Green Hill – coursing through his veins. The fire was back, engulfing his mind in a sharp, thick heat, and his vision tunneled as he planted his feet into the sand, gathering traction on the loose substance. He was about to pounce on the older boys to give them a taste of their own medicine when one of them spoke.

"Had enough yet, _Miles_?!" the cat-like one yelled into the face of the one digging deeper and deeper into the sand. "Where're your precious bombs _now_?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" A broken sob emerged from the sands, and Sonic felt his heart jerk unexpectantly. "What _bombs_?!" The voice was harsh with disbelief as if he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

"You know exactly what bombs I'm talking about, you freak!" The cat was screeching now, shaking the life out of the other. "The bombs you almost blew up the whole _Zone_ with!"

There came no reply, and the cat looked towards the coyote, nodding his head roughly. The dog smiled smoothly before scooping down and pulling the sobbing child to his feet. Sonic's eyes were immediately drawn to the blood spattered boy, categorizing injuries and wounds. The child was a fox – the same one that had fixed his plane, he realized without surprise – and his face was almost disfigured. His nose was obviously broken and his teeth looked like they had seen better days. Luckily however, he looked young enough for them to only be baby teeth, so he would be receiving his older pair to replace them soon enough. He was hunched over, hand pressed to his chest, an obvious sign of a broken rib, and his eyes were closed as he awaited whatever punishment his tormentors were going to inflict while he was standing.

He couldn't have been older than four or five.

The cat took over sentry duty by the kit's only free arm and the coyote paced in front before stopping and glaring towards his victim. "Well, Miles," he mumbled, grinning maliciously, "you gonna tell us where you hid those bombs?"

It stuck Sonic as weird that neither of the boys seemed to notice that their cheering squad had been silenced minutes before. They seemed so far into their own gruesome world that they didn't comprehend anything about the outside world.

_Well,_ he thought, finally breaking through the spell the confrontation had put him in, _it's time to make them realize_.

He attacked quickly, slamming into the coyote like a semi-truck, throwing him to the ground. He landed very similarly to a forgotten rag-doll but rolled over moaning, showing a sign of life. The cat was down seconds later, standing about as much chance against Sonic as his buddy.

The hedgehog wasted no time speeding to the fox's side. The little one didn't seem to comprehend that the danger to him was gone, because he didn't open his eyes. He stood shaking, hands wrapped around his torso and tails between his legs.

_Wait… Tails_…?

Despite having been told about the extra appendage, Sonic still lost himself for a few seconds as he stared at the double twitching masses, but shook his head when he realized what he was doing. Carefully, he forced the cub to move his head towards him, murmuring easily to him. "It's okay, kiddo. They're not gonna hurt you anymore."

The young one seemed to sense the kindness in his words and his ears pricked. Slowly, dark eyes opened and stared at Sonic in pure thanks.

The hedgehog smiled easily at the young one, patting his head simply, and giving him a thumbs up. "You're with me now, kid."

o0o

_***Modulation:*:**__**Comping**__*****_

The day the Oracle declares that Bartley is to be the Royal Advisor to the Prince and Princess, Manic is tempted to gag himself with his shoe.

It has been months since Sonia's coronation – and Manic's subsequent inheritance of the title Third in Line, which he doesn't live up to at all – and their mother has been making sounds about getting the two of them an official advisor for a while. She has told them over and over again that even though Sonia is officially the one that will rule upon her death, Manic will still have considerable sway – see: _less than one sixteenth of a percent_ – in control of the country. Both are required to attend 'Lessons' which Manic swears is code for 'Mind-numbing, worthless classes to keep them occupied' – one such class is equestrian studies, aka horses, aka Manic didn't know people still _rode_ horses – and both are allowed to sit in on the court sessions the queen holds to hear complaints. Manic never partakes in the 'honor', partly because his complaints are always ignored and partly because court is even more brain melting than the lessons.

Currently, he is skipping his language studies (he can already speak Mobian and English; what does he need to learn _Latin for_?) in favor of sitting in the queen's private meeting room. His mother is sitting on the other side of the table, pouring over an economic report, but she will occasionally pick her head up to give him a special Mom Glare when she sees his feet _still_ on the table. She is perfectly aware that he is skipping his lesson, but she has allowed him this one transgression. She has not had enough alone time with him.

"Unease in the kingdom, Ma?" Manic asks in a joking tone when he sees her brow furrow.

"Reports from the outlying villages, Manic," she replies, dropping the papers and reaching up to rub her eyes. "They've received information of some kind of disturbance on the mobian islands down south. They're requesting extra protection, but I don't have the soldiers to send. Our army was disbanded generations ago."

The boy shifts so he is sitting lower in his seat, subsequently shoving more of his legs onto the table. "Do you want me and Sonia to go down there and ease a few troubled minds?"

"Wha—? No! That's too close to human territory."

Her tone catches him off guard and he cocks and eyeridge at her. "We've been down there before, Ma. 'T's not that bad."

Aleena sighs, rubbing her temples. "I know, I know, but you're not in the resistance anymore. You have to think of the people now. What would happen to them if the heirs died?"

Manic's blood runs cold at her words and his feet fall off the table. He sits up completely, staring at her for a few seconds before he can force out words. "We're not going to die."

"You don't know that." She takes a deep breath, her next phrase coming out as a whisper. "Sonic didn't know it."

"Ma, Sonic sacrificed himself so we could do this. Hiding here won't do an—"

A knock on the door cuts him off, and the queen sends him a look that tells him they will continue this conversation later before she grants admission to the caller. Manic harrumphs and props his feet back on the table, crossing them and pulling his vest tighter into his torso.

The person that walks in is the last individual that Manic wants to see. The Oracle of Delphius, in full purple robe, strides across the room. Manic's mother rises to greet him with a smile, while the green mobian simply sinks impossibly lower, grumbling darkly.

"Ah, Oracle!" Aleena welcomes cheerfully, gesturing toward the table. "Welcome! Please sit. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Probably forgot how to count," Manic mumbles, rolling his eyes. "Council of Four my spiky green a—"

"Manic!" the woman admonishes in a deadly combination of her Queen and Mother voices. "Excuse him, Oracle. He's not yet… _adjusted_ to life at the palace. I'll need to make sure he attends every one of his etiquette lessons." Her tone is pointed and the prince huffs.

"The boy has a right to be angry," the aged mobian answers prodigiously. "In his eyes, I led you to believe that Sonic would be with us."

"Oh, I'm sure Manic would _never_—"

"Maybe there was a typo in your visions, Oracle," Manic mutters sarcastically, ignoring his mother entirely.

"No, what I told you was what I saw – four. F-O-U-R."

"Can you spell 'obnoxious'?" the green one shoots back without pause.

"Manic," Aleena grounds out, cutting him a glare so fierce, he is tempted to hide under the table. He hasn't had much experience with mothers in general, so she scares him when she looks at him that way. "Why don't you go find your sister? I'm sure she would love to see the Oracle."

In all actuality, Sonia has declared that if 'that anteater ever shows his face here, he might end up _accidentally_ going through a window' but Manic makes a diplomatic decision not to mention this. Instead, he struggles out of his seat, taking his sweet time, and sends the Oracle a look that could melt paint when he eventually gains his feet. The queen's expression is begging him to hurry, so he sighs and turns on his heel.

However, the doors slam open before he can take a step and Sonia marches in, anger practically radiating off of her form. Manic falls back into his seat, leans forward on the table, and sends his sister a grimace when she cuts a look at him that sums up his opinions on the whole situation. Obviously, someone informed her of the Oracle's visit… The green one silently wondered if they still had a head.

"What's _he_ doing here?" the princess demands, pointing an accusatory finger at the oracle. Her tone is practically indicting him of murder.

"Sonia!" Aleena's voice is even more forceful than before and Manic silently admires his sister for standing so strong against it. "What's gotten into the two of you?! Sit down and let the Oracle speak."

The pink girl stands defiantly for a few seconds for dropping gracelessly into the seat next to Manic. Her ear flicks once out of agitation, and Manic grins at her. She scowls.

"I understand that you are searching for an advisor for the children," the man begins, sweeping his hand toward the fuming twins.

"That's right," the queen answers, ignoring Sonia's indignant "_An advisor, Mother_?!" "I have yet to come across someone with the correct qualifications."

"I have Seen the person who is destined to help your children to greatness. It is someone that they know well, but you may have overlooked."

For some reason, Manic feels his stomach drop at the words and he sits straighter in his chair. Sonia sees his shift and she sends him a look.

"I believe the person you need to contact is one Bartleby MontClair of Dresdin."

Aleena looks ready to say something, but Manic shoots up to his feet, his voice raised. "_What?_ Not Bartleby! He—"

"Is perfectly qualified, young prince." the oracle interrupts. "He has had all of the formal training and has assisted you and your siblings many times. He has also upheld good relations with many of the aristocrats in the city, which you, I'm afraid, have not."

"That's because Bartleby sucked up to Robotnik! He only worries about himself and his money." Manic sniffs, looking at his sister for support, but she is staring open mouthed at the Bearer of Bad News. "He's an aristocrat. We don't need that."

"You seem to be forgetting, my prince, that you are also an aristocrat."

This shuts Manic's tirade down, and he wilts, falling back into his chair. However, he immediately straightens again as something occurs to him. "I may be an aristocrat by birth, but I have more values in my pinkie nail than Bartleby does in his whole body." He waves his hands for emphasis, nearly hitting Sonia over the head. She doesn't notice.

"You were a thief." The rebuttal is said without malice and as a simple statement of fact, but it Manic's quills still ripple upward in defense. He takes in a deep breath to let the Oracle have it, but a female voice interrupts him.

"Manic didn't choose to be a thief," Sonia declares, glancing at her mother. Aleena seems at a loss as to what to say; the subject of her children's upbringing is still sore for her. "But he's still more honorable than most of the people I grew up with – the so-called 'elite.' Even though he has horrible manners," she grimaces at him through a smile, "he has grown into one of the most well-adjusted people I've ever met. Education and money do not dictate how a person will evolve."

The oracle is struck silent at her words and he nods knowingly to her. Manic smiles at his sister, nodding his thanks while their mother takes over. She directs the oracle out of the room, sending her children a meaningful look. This conversation will be continued later as well.

o0o

…_**:Stretto:…**_

One month later. Not a long time span, not even by a long shot, and for Sonic, it was the shortest in his life. But, also, the longest.

The fox had quickly become his friend. It was strange, Sonic reflected to himself, that he would find a comrade in such an unlikely person, but, at the same time, it made sense. The child needed him, and Sonic needed the fox. They balanced each other in a way; Sonic through providing protection, and the fox through giving Sonic companionship. Sure, they were both still a little awkward around each other – because the child was still healing from his injuries and Sonic had been forced to play nurse – but it was a nice awkward.

"_So, what's your name, kid?"_ Sonic had asked once he had chased all of the bullies away and carried the fox to his small camp around the _Tornado_.

"_M-Miles_," the child stuttered back, staring at him with huge eyes.

"_Got a last name_?"

A disgusted expression had spoken volumes, but Miles answered vocally nonetheless. "_Prower_."

"_You don't like it_?" A slow shake of the head was his only answer. "_You want a nickname then?_"

"_You want to give _me_ a nickname?"_ The voice was astounded and the pair of huge eyes made the surprise almost comical. "_Why_?"

"_No sense in you going around being called something you don't like_." He paused, staring at the fox with a hand cupping his chin. "_How about Tails?"_

The astonishment quickly faded to be replaced with a mixture of depression and gloom. "_You noticed, huh_." It wasn't so much a question as a despaired statement of fact.

"_Kinda hard to miss, kiddo, and I don't care,_" he added, watching the child's ears sink impossibly lower. "_They're neat – 'specially that 'copter thing you did the other day."_

"_You think my tails are _cool_?"_

"_Way past, little dude."_

From that moment on, Miles had become Tails. That small change had somehow transformed the fox's outlook on life, so much so that Sonic could feel his happiness being affected as well. He was constantly smiling, laughing, and joking around with his new friend. It was a strange change from what he was used to. Life with Sonia and Manic had been so serious and he had had to make an effort to make either of them smile. With Tails, they coexisted so effortlessly, it was like something had clicked into place. Friendship was different from family, he knew, but he hadn't realized _how_ different.

Currently, the fox was digging around in the _Tornado_'s engine, categorizing what exactly was wrong with it. He would occasionally mutter words that Sonic didn't recognize and then be forced to try to explain them, but his blue friend was usually left behind when the more technical terms came into play. Sonic was lying in the sand, getting some well deserved sun, when something occurred to him.

"Hey, Tails," he called. There was a clunk as the fox jumped at his words, presumably hitting his head on the underside of the plane. A noncommittal sound came from the kit's direction, and Sonic chose to take it as a cue to keep speaking. "Where'd you learn all this mechanical mumbo-jumbo?" The clanking sounds of the child working stopped for a few seconds and Sonic's ears rose in curiosity when his friend shifted so his head was visible.

"I'm, um, not sure…" It was clearly a deflection, and Sonic's face dropped into a flat expression.

"C'mon, Tails, secrets don't make friends." The hedgehog's tone was obviously joking, so he was a bit shocked when Tails heaved a deep sigh of resignation. He pulled himself from under the plane and padded over to his friend, sitting down across from him. One of Sonic's eyeridges raised at the fox's actions but he didn't say anything.

However, Tails sitting down next to him was as much as a conversation starter as Sonic was going to get, so he echoed the fox's sigh before hedging again. "What's up, dude?"

The fox's expression shifted minutely, hardening as he stared at his friend. "I'm not sure how to answer your question, Sonic."

"The truth is a good place to start."

Tails flinched. "The truth is really complicated."

Something in Sonic's mind clicked into place and his eyes narrowed a bit. "Does this have to do with Cocoa Island?"

"I don't have any bombs!" The exclamation was so sudden, it blindsided Sonic for a second and his ears flicked downward.

"I didn't say you did, kiddo…"

Tails didn't hear him, because he was too busy rambling over the hedgehog's interjection. "I mean, it's not like _I_ would need bombs, or a fox shaped robot, or rings, or the Chaos Emeralds or—"

"Wait, wait, _wait,_" Sonic threw his hands, open-palmed, toward the fox. The motor mouth paused. "Did you just say _Chaos Emeralds_?"

"Um, yes…?" Tails winced when it came out more as a question than a statement. "Don't you know about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Of course I do. I collected six of them on South Island."

"Ah…" the child rubbed the back of his neck. "That sounds like a cool story! I've never heard that part before – just the stuff about how you chased Dr. Robotnik all over and then made him leave. You should totally tell me about the Emeralds."

Sonic chuckled. "Nice try, kid." He rubbed the fox on the head, eliciting a scowl from the small face. "We're still talking about you. Did you get your hands on some of them on Cocoa Island or something?"

"Well, I _guess_ you could say that. I mean, I got six of them… Couldn't find the seventh though."

"_Six_?" Sonic's eyes widened a smidge. "But… Wait. Bombs, fox, Cocoa Island, Emeralds…" He ticked through each word on his fingers. Tails' expression practically begged him to stop before he got too far. "That would make you… Tails, are you—? Did you—?" The hedgehog was struggling for words, and he eventually settled on, "Battle Kukkus?"

The vulpine wilted in front of Sonic's eyes, and he gave a despondent nod. "Yeah, I guess I saved Cocoa Island from them…"

"But, that would be that you're… Are _you_ the Savior of Cocoa Island?"

"I…guess…?"

Sonic stared at his friend, dumfounded, his jaw practically touching the ground. "That's…"

"I know, I know. I'm a freak." Tails' namesakes curled around his legs, and he grabbed one in a hug, hiding his face in it.

"No, no, Tails." The hedgehog reached out and gently guided the child's head up so he was looking him in the eye. "That's amazing. You're a hero."

"No, I'm not." A sniffle accompanied the words, and Sonic felt his heart lurch. "I'm a freak. Everyone says so."

"I don't say that," Sonic asserted, reaching out and pulling the kid into a hug. "You're one of the coolest people I've ever met."

"But, _you're_ the hero. I'm just some kid that was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"How are you different from me, kid? You stopped someone who wanted to hurt people."

"You didn't kill Robotnik." This was mumbled so lowly that Sonic had to strain to hear it.

"What does that have to do with—?"

"I killed the Battle Kukkus." The tone stayed at the same volume, but those words were impossibly loud as they sailed between the two. Sonic felt his face dropping into a shocked expression, but he forced it to stay neutral.

Really, this shouldn't have surprised him. What did he think when he heard that the Savior of Cocoa used bombs? He just waved them around and the Kukkus ran off? Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that a lot of people had died, both good and bad, but having that fact thrown back into his face in the form of a clearly traumatized five year old was like a sucker punch to the stomach. He could only stare at Tails, trying to picture the child with a bomb in either hand, throwing them at living beings… The picture wouldn't click into place.

Suddenly, he realized that Tails was crying. The sobs escaped him as a soft mewling sound, so impossibly young sounding that Sonic could do nothing but reach out and hug him again, rocking him back and forth as the fox fell into the embrace.

"Oh, Tails…" It was all he could say, and he rubbed soothing circles into the golden fur on his friend's back. "It's okay kiddo. It's okay."

"No it's not!" the fox wailed into the hedgehog's shoulder. "I-I _kill_—"

"No you didn't," Sonic cut in, his voice a little more forceful than before. "You were protecting yourself and everyone else. You were _not_ murdering people in cold blood."

"B-But, _you_ didn't have to kill Robotnik," Tails retorted in a weak, wobbly voice.

"Robotnik was the only living thing I have up against. The rest were all robots. You though, you had an entire _army_ to worry about."

The fox sniffled and leaned back to look up at his friend. They shared a gaze for a few seconds, and a silent conversation passed between them, Tails begging for some kind of reassurance and Sonic freely giving it.

"You won't ever have to do that again." Sonic's sudden declaration seemed to catch the child off guard and he blinked. "As long as you're with me, you won't have to take another life every again, okay?"

This seemed to be the perfect thing to say, because the kit fell forward onto Sonic's shoulder again, wrapping his arms around the hedgehog and giving him a hug. "Thanks Sonic," he mumbled, his voice stronger than before.

"Anytime kid."

000

…_:__**L'istesso Tempo:...**_

The day Dr. Robotnik finally unleashed his newest battalion of robots on Westside Island was also the day that Tails finally fixed the _Tornado_. It was the day that hedgehog planned on getting the kid the heck out of the Zone, but, of course, the ego maniac that had brought the hedgehog here in the first place had other plans. They had been in the plane, Tails sitting in front of Sonic so he could watch the blue hero manipulate the controls, when the robots descended on the Zone.

Sonic spat out a very nasty word, which made Tails' ears snap forward, but the fox didn't react past that, as he was too preoccupied with the small monkey robot that landed on the nose of the plane. It was tossing a coconut in its hand, which it immediately lobbed at the cockpit. The kit yelped, falling forward when Sonic pushed his head down. The hedgehog leapfrogged over the kid before jumping off the front console and kicking the coconut away. It exploded in the air in a bright flash, and the monkey chattered unhappily at the hedgehog when he launched himself at it. However, the 'bot leapt away before he could touch it and it swung into a nearby palm. It disappeared toward town, jumping from tree to tree.

"You okay?" Sonic asked, jerking around to look at the fox. The child was sitting up, staring at the remains of the coconut bomb and he scrambled out of the cockpit. He jumped to the ground and swooped down to pick up the outer casing, running his hands over it.

"These are short range, compressive bombs," he noted as his eyes quickly took in its appearance, "intended for stunning instead of killing, though they'll do a lot of damage if they land on top of you." He looked up at the hedgehog. "Why would Robotnik use these?"

Sonic grimaced. "He wants to capture mobians to use them to power his robots – doesn't want them dead."

The fox looked sick. "We need to stop this." It was a simple statement, and he turned toward the village.

Sonic twisted around as well, taking note of the smoke already rising from the settlement. "Are you sure you can handle this Tails? There will be people in the 'bots."

"That's who we're saving, right?" Suddenly, Sonic was reminded of how young the fox was and he winced. "No killing?"

The hedgehog heaved a sigh. He wasn't exactly comfortable with taking such a small child into a battle, but Tails had been in a lot worse situations… "You got it, bud."

000

They found the Seventh Chaos Emerald in Hill Top Zone. Really, it had been a fluke. There they were, ambling through, avoiding the lava pits and the badniks, and there was a Starpost. Through more curiosity than intent, Sonic had activated it, surprised when the rip of stars showed up. Tails had jumped right through without thinking and Sonic had been forced to follow. The Special Zone was different this time – a dark, foreboding gray, and the rings were scarce. It had been difficult to gather enough, but through some fancy teamwork, they had managed.

The seventh Emerald was a stormy gray, so impossibly different from the rest of them. It shone with an inner light, creating starbursts of color when Sonic stared into its depths, as if it was trying to communicate with him. His senses sang as he placed it in his quills with the others. It locked into place, clicking in like a puzzle piece, and he felt a strange energy flood into his body. It was warm and soothing, reassuring. It filled him, pushed at his skin, sailed through his bloodstream, begged to be used.

Sonic shook his head when he realized that Tails was talking to him, and he focused on his friend, pushing the whispering voices of power picking at his mind away. They receded back into the Emeralds, but stayed in reaching distance.

Their son would soon need them.

000

When the _Tornado_ was shot down, Tails with it, the anger came back. It roared to life, overwhelming him as he watched his biplane careen toward the ground, its diminutive pilot struggling to bring it back under his control, and he felt it build behind his eyes. It was thick, burning with the power of the largest of fires, and Sonic allowed it to take control. The Emeralds flared to life in his quills, their brightness embodying the unadulterated hatred that was amassing in his core. Dr. Robotnik would pay for this. He would pay for everything.

Sonic was barely aware that he was flying. Truly, it was more like he was standing still and the planet was moving under him. He was barely aware that he was glowing. Of course, the fact that there was a golden aura surrounding him probably would have caught his attention were this any other situation, but, as it were, the wispy tendrils of power were nothing but extra limbs, extensions of himself. He slammed his way through the Death Egg, unaware that his eyes were a beautiful shade of emerald, shining with their own energy.

Robotnik, though, noticed all of this when Sonic powered his way toward the human, and he could only gulp and launch his Silver Sonic prototype at the hedgehog and hope that the robot would be enough.

Of course, it wasn't.

000

…_**:Duet:…**_

When it was all over, Sonic could barely remember exactly what happened. There was the _Tornado_ falling to the ground, the fight with Silver Sonic, the fight with the Death Egg robot, and then the plummet to the planet. Past that, he remembered nothing. When he woke, it was on a soft bed of grass. He was on his back, with his head pillowed and his left arm around something warm and lumpy. With a groan, he forced his eyes open, surprised to see a black sky and stars through a thin canopy of leaves. He shifted, taking his weight off of his tail, and the thing under his arm moved in response, kicking him in the side with a sneakered foot as it did so.

"What the—?" Sonic gagged, forcing his lungs to take in air. He forced his head to move, ignoring the aches that forced their way up neck, and caught sight of a golden pair of ears, attached to an equally gold head. "_Tails_?"

"Hn," the fox groaned, looking up at the hedgehog with large, shining, dark eyes. "Sleepy."

The hero chuckled, tightening his hold on the fox and pulling the five year old into his side. "Sorry big guy. You can go back to sleep in a sonic sec. What happened?"

"Fixed the plane," the kit yawned, snuggling into Sonic's side like a giant teddy bear, "caught you when you fell, you were unconscious, fell asleep, you woke up, asked me what happened."

"You _fixed the plane_?"

"Yup," a nod was accompanied by a yawn. "Attached a rocket to it. Zipped right back up."

"A _rocket_. Tails, what _are_ you?"

"A…fox…?"

"You're a genius."

"Oh, okay."

Sonic chuckled at the exhaustion laced through his voice, and he was sure that his little friend wouldn't remember any of this when he woke up in the morning. "Okay big guy, let's get some rest. We've got some stuff to do in the morning."

"Okay, big bro." Tails seemed unaware of what he was saying, but Sonic stiffened a bit at the words. He hadn't been called that since he had left Sonia and Manic behind. Both he and Manic had the habit of calling each other 'bro' simply because they enjoyed reminding each other that they _finally_ had a family, and he knew immediately that Tails probably felt the same way. He had been alone his whole life; Sonic was as close as he was going to get to family.

And now, Sonic realized, Tails was _his_ family. He made the decision to leave his siblings behind, and now he had found something to fit in that hole. Of course, Tails was more than just a replacement; he needed Sonic, and Sonic needed him, more than Sonia and Manic needed him. Sometimes, family didn't rely only on blood; it relied on _fate_.

"G'night, li'l bro." Sonic replied, a small smile quirking at the sides of his lips.

Tails relaxed and was asleep in seconds, snoring softly. The hedgehog heaved a deep sigh, relaxing into the quiet of the night, and he closed his eyes, blocking out the sight of the stars.

He had seized control of his life, and it was finally paying off. A fox for a little brother and a bright future of forging his own path – two things he had never _thought_ of having, but, it was perfect.

The only way Sonic could go was up, and he was reaching for the sky.

* * *

_So. Much. _TALKING. _*faints* I swear, I hate huge masses of dialogue like this, but there were things that NEEDED TO BE TALKED ABOUT. _

_Taaaaaaaails~ Happy 20__th__ birthday big guy! I plan on doing an actual oneshot for his birthday, but I've given him the best introduction I could think of for this story, so this contributes as well. He's my favorite. Forever and ever amen. _

_I suppose the Sonic-meets-Tails mini-plot that I used is pretty clichéd in the scheme of the fandom, but the twist I put on it should make up for that – hopefully. I hope that all of the mega-drama dealing with Tails' past didn't turn you off. Little fox needed help burning his bridges and Sonic is prime with a match and a smile. (I cheated on the scene where Sonic saved Tails from the fight. I wrote it for something else a long time ago and I think I posted it in my drabble collection but I totally repurposed it please don't crucify me.)_

_A little more screen time for our royal twins. Hope they didn't angst you to death. I'm trying to get a feel of time passing, so that's why the events are all choppy when it comes to them._

_I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, which means that updates will be pretty stagnant throughout the month of November. I was trying to write ahead so I'd at least have _something_ to post during November, but this chapter took two weeks to write. ;.; It's a monster. I have to work on stuff for my other story (plus the aforementioned Tails birthday thing) so I apologize for leaving you guys hanging. _

_Reviews are cherished. _


	4. Allegro

_Foray_ – a Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic Underground crossover

_3 – Allegro_

**Notes:** Sorry about the wait. Life attacked me with every lemon it had. Big thanks to everyone who PM'd and pestered me. Makes me write faster, ya'know? Thanks for all of the reviews too. You guys are awesome!

**WARNINGS: **The events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles are glossed over quite a bit because I assumed everyone knows what goes down. New narrative style – second person. You have fair warning. (I love second person; favorite style.) This chapter starts the weaving plot lines. Pay attention; take notes if you must; there might be a quiz. Oh, and this thing is freakin' long. Have you noticed?

_Enjoy and happy holidays~!_

* * *

_***Modulation:*:**__**Trémolo***_

When Aleena first mentions a floating island, Manic is tempted to laugh her off.

She is clearly getting her myths confused with real life. But then he remembers the magical medallion hanging around his neck, the unnatural strength his sister has, and the speed that his brother had reached at a 'jog,' and he decides to give her the benefit of the doubt.

They are sitting in Manic's bedroom when she brings it up. The room is the smallest in the palace – so, in all actuality, it's pretty big, considering that he used to live in a bus – with the generic large central, canopied bed, and imperial air. The whole room is snooty, in Manic's opinion, with pictures of people he doesn't recognize past the familiar shape of their faces on the walls, large thick curtains that are only useful in that they look very dramatic when thrown open, and gold fringes the edges of the sheets, just because _they can_. However, despite all of this, the room is his. The curtains may be cumbersome and unnecessary considering how high above the ground the room is, but he has modified them into a sort-of hammock, enabling him to sit in the dip of the windowpane, creating a hanging bay window. The bookshelf taking up a whole wall is stacked with dusty tomes, written long ago by stuffy mobians – most of them probably related to him – and he has taken to occupying himself by organizing them by size, color, height, title, and author name. So far, the only one that looks cracked is a simple book entitled something equally simple. 'Chaos Theory' is something that he's never heard of, but for some reason, his medallion thrummed when he touched the book. The dark green book is laying open, pages down, on the nightstand, and Aleena runs her fingers down it as she walks in.

Manic is ill. He has been sequestered to his bedroom for the duration of his sickness, doctor's orders. The boy looks tiny in his bed, covers pulled up to his chin, shivers rippling through his body at steady intervals, and coughs coming and going without warning. Aleena's mothering instinct rages at her for allowing him to degrade into this state, and she pads across the room, her steps silent on the plush carpet of his room. She steps over discarded socks, tools, blueprints, and a spare pair of drumsticks before she reaches his bedside. He gazes at her with huge red-ringed eyes, and she drops to sit next to him, sinking into the soft mattress.

"How are you doing, darling?" The question is more of a courteous gesture than a curious one; it's pretty obvious how he's doing.

"Can't sleep." His answer is clipped, annoyed, and the look he sends her lacks the usual fire, but it still pretty scalding. "Wish I could get up."

"I'm sorry, Manic, but you need to rest. Do you want me to get you something?"

He huffs, crossing his arms. "No, the maid lady won't leave me alone about that. I just need to be left alone."

"You've been cooped up in here for days. I think you've been alone enough."

The boy rolls his eyes, but doesn't offer a response past that.

"Would you like me to tell you a story?"

"I'm not five, Ma."

"Yes, but I haven't gotten the chance to tell you a bedtime story yet. Indulge your mother?"

Her face is an open, mixed expression of depression and expectant excitement, and the refusal dies on his tongue. "Sure." The reply isn't nearly as suffering sounding as he expects it to be, and he gives himself a few brownie points for effort. The look on her face is Christmas-come-early and he can't help but smile back. "Gimmie your best."

"Okay." Her voice is practically giddy and she settles deeper into the mattress, getting comfortable for the duration of her tale. "How about the one about the Floating Island? Have you ever heard it?" He shakes his head and she grins. "Well then, you better get comfy, because it's a good one."

Manic makes a show of propping his pillow against the headboard and then leaning back against it. When he is comfortable, he nods to her and she plunges right it, waving her hands around for emphasis.

"The Floating Island is a place of mystery. Few have seen it in living memory, and even less know about it. It used to be the home of an ancient civilization, and when an unknown force attacked them, they took to the sky. There is no explanation for their floating home, and no real record of what happened after they disappeared into the clouds, but many believe that they are still up there, watching over us."

Manic expression is dubious, and he coughs once before speaking. "A floating island, Ma? You can't believe this…"

"I've seen it, Manic dear. I was friends with the Guardian."

Manic's manages to keep his mouth from dropping open in shock, and his mind ticks through that answer. The whole thing needs addressing really, but he decides to get some background info before letting her ramble about what a giant floating island looks like. "Guardian?" His reply is properly interested with the barest hint of cynicism mixed in, and Aleena scowls at him.

"The Floating Island has a Guardian, someone who watches over it and keeps it in the sky. He is usually incredibly strong and brave – a true hero. The self-sacrifice needed to fulfill this ancient duty is commendable and impressive." Her tone is flat, as if she is reading out of a book, and Manic can't help but feel as if she has heard that speech many times.

"So, he's an isolated workaholic?"

Aleena chokes on her response. "M-Manic! What?!" He opens his mouth to respond, but she cuts him off. "You know what, never mind. I guess I should be happy you're making jokes; you must be feeling better."

The prince shrugs. "A bit. Your story helped… Though, it wasn't much of a story – more a book report." He has returned to the dubious voice, and she frowns and stands.

"You don't believe me." It isn't a question and he doesn't bother to correct her. She _is_ his mother after all; that kind of thing might get him grounded. "Well, ye of little faith," the queen crosses the room in a few quick strides and skirt swishes, "I happen to know that there is a book in your private library here that explains all about it." She hops onto the rolling ladder attached to the bookcases and it slides a few feet down the wall before coming to a stop. She deems this the perfect place and scales upward a couple rungs before running her gloved fingers down the spines of a few books. "Aha!" She grabs a book from between the others and slides off of the ladder, landing with barely a sound. Suddenly, Manic realizes where Sonic got his smooth, quick movements from.

The queen stalks back to her son, and she holds the large tome out to him. "Here, nonbeliever, educate yourself." The boy takes it, and his arms collapse under its weight. It crashes into his lap and he winces. His mother raises an eyebrow at him, and his eyes narrow in response.

Quickly (falsely) attributing his inability to hold up what is essentially a bunch of paper to sickness, he pushes the book onto the bed. "How'd you know where it was? I haven't touched that shelf yet."

"This used to be my room, Manic, when I was young like you. All of those books were mine once, though I've given them to you, obviously." She shrugs at his flabbergasted expression. "Treat them well. I picked them all out with care."

"You _read_ all of these?"

"Of course. A queen must be well educated. Besides," she is quick to add, "I didn't have many friends. Your grandfather didn't believe in royalty leaving the palace unless absolutely necessary, especially the crown princess. The future had to be preserved, he believed."

That strikes a chord in Manic, and he flinches. "Sonic wouldn't have gotten along with him." The answer is straight, without emotion, but the mother still looks at him sadly.

"Your brother did what was absolutely necessary to make the future possible." She pauses, reaching out and laying her hand on his head. He is warm, but not in the worrisome way of the feverish. This warmth is life, hope, proof that she still has children to survive for, and she smiles weakly at him. "I think he would have gotten along perfectly with your grandfather." She bends down and presses her lips to his forehead, and he leans into the gesture, wrapping his arms around her middle.

"Get some rest, my dear," she commands softly as she pulls away. "I need to go make sure Sonia hasn't killed Bartleby."

"All right." As she turns to go, he looks down at the book. "Oh, and Ma." When she turns to look back at him, the light streaming in through the window flowing through her long hair and illuminating her face, he catches his breath. He is biased like all children, but his mother is probably one of the most beautiful people he has ever seen. "Thanks for the story. And the book."

Her smile brightens his whole day. "Anytime Manic. I'm here."

_Finally_, _I'm here._

o0o

_**~Syncopation::Missed Beat~**_

When the metal ship lands on your Island, you have no idea what to think. The 'Giant, Metal Orb Crash' was never covered in your training, and the Master Emerald makes no warning action against it, so you have no reason to attack it.

This doesn't stop you, and you attack it anyway.

You operate on a punch-first-ask-questions-after-intruders-have-been-flung-off-the-island mentality, so you figure that will suffice perfectly in this situation. It works for everything else, after all.

So, when you slam your first into the metal of the ship thing, and it does nothing but reverberate through the hull, you are dumbfounded. Seconds later, a man emerges from the ship, and you have to fight to keep the shock off your face.

You have never seen a human before – well, to be fair, you haven't seen anyone except your grandfather before – but you immediately decide that they have to be one of the ugliest things on the planet. The eyes are incredibly small, the nose is freakily pushed into the face, and the ears… They are like satellite dishes. (You have no idea how you know what satellite dishes are, but the comparison is a good one.) This particular human is round, and you have no idea if the whole species is this way, but you decide to assume they are for the time being.

The human calls out to you in a language you don't recognize and you resist the urge to hit him.

"I do not understand." The answer is clipped in your deep tone, and the man blinks at you.

"Ah, you speak Mobian! I apologize, fated Guardian, and offer my humble greetings." Somehow, the human manages to bow and you cock an eyeridge.

"I have no need of your human languages." Your hands fist at your sides, and you watch as the man rises back to his full height. "Why are you here?"

"I have, unfortunately, crash landed here because of a great menace threatening the surface. You see, there is this hedg—"

"Get to the point," you demand, tapping your foot.

The man's jaw pulls into an annoyed expression, and you swear there is a vein throbbing his forehead. "Very well. There is a blue hedgehog headed here, and he wishes to steal the source of your Island's magic."

"The Master Emerald?!" you gasp, and the briefest of emotions flashes across the human's face. You are unable to pinpoint what exactly it is before he speaks again.

"Yes, the Master Emerald," he weighs the words as he says them, but you barely notice. "I am here to offer my protection."

You stare at this human, watching his movements. He is openly facing you, not turned away as if shielding himself, and you cast your senses out toward the Master Emerald. It hums against your probe, not warning against malevolence, and you decide that a little help wouldn't hurt. "Who are you, human?"

"I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, and you?"

"Knuckles," you answer, "Guardian of Angel Island."

o0o

…_**:Mezzo:…**_

When Tails first mentioned a floating island, Sonic was tempted to laugh him off.

But, when Tails took him up there, and the hedgehog laid eyes on it, he choked on his proverbial laughter and nearly died of shock.

For some reason, when he heard the words 'floating island' he figured it would have been a small chunk of mobius floating above the planet, not a full landmass. Floating land wasn't that uncommon, especially on the islands down south, but the island with a full mini-ocean and beach and snow-topped mountains and _was that a volcano_…? Sonic couldn't really come up with a word to explain it. Bizarre wasn't enough, and strange was laughably clichéd.

Freakishly strangely bizarrely unusual was close.

"I believe you, Tails!" he called toward his friend, cupping his hands over his mouth. Tails' ears flicked at him to let him know he had been heard, but didn't reply past that. The plane was being buffeted by the wind this high up, and he was struggling to keep it steady enough for Sonic to remain standing. The hedgehog turned his body so he was standing with his side to the front of the plane, allowing the wind to ruffling through his quills. The change in direction allowed for a more streamlined ride and let Sonic get a good look at the fox and the sky in front of them.

Tails had his hands curled around the control stick, eyes narrowed into the wind, and Sonic made a mental note to get him a pair of goggles the next time he had a chance. The plane jerked under his feet, and Tails overcompensated to keep the hedgehog from tumbling off, sending the blue hero stumbling to his knees.

"Sorry Sonic!"

The hedgehog didn't hear him because the Emeralds stored safely stored in his quills flared to life as soon as his knees impacted, engulfing him in a blaze of gold. He barely had time to compute what was going on before he was rocketing forward, away from the plane. He managed to blink once before his mind informed him that he had turned into Super Sonic and he jerked to a stop, yanking his body around to make sure his sudden departure hadn't messed up anything with the _Tornado_.

Luckily, Tails was following him at a good clip. The plane seemed fine, despite the huge amount of Chaos Energy that had just erupted on its top wing, and he floated for a few seconds before pointing his body toward his friend. A golden flash rocketed toward the red biplane, and circled around it once before coming to fly just in front of it. The Emeralds hummed happily at Sonic, urging him to hurry to the Island, speaking straight to the energy in his body. His blood thrummed in his veins, trying to push him even faster toward their destination and he obliged.

He managed to pick up a decent amount of speed by the time he blasted across the beach and then through the forest. He was barely aware as Tails broke off to land the plane, and didn't even notice as his body swerved around a tree without conscious prompting. He was just on the fringe of the sound barrier, the wind licking at his quills, yanking him back, and he smirked before pressing forward. He soared.

Until he crashed into a spiked fist. The impact was equivalent to a truck hitting a solid wall, and he heard his nose and jaw crunch in the impact. Luckily for him, the Emeralds protected him from any real damage, and he was sure that his whole face would have been broken without their interference. He was thrown backward, and he landed on his backside, every atom of air in his lungs escaping in a mass exodus that left his head spinning. The Emeralds exploded out of him, scattering in sparkling flashes, and if he hadn't been too busy gasping and cursing, he was sure he would have felt his connection with them sever.

He barely noticed as the owner of the fist – nothing more than a red blob with giant white hands – collected the Emeralds without a care in the world. In the time it took his iron fist'd adversary to stalk around him and pick all of them up, Sonic managed to convince his head to stop imitating a demented merry-go-round, and he leveraged his elbows into the ground to prop himself up in time to see the crimson mobian-like-thing (he wasn't exactly what species this creature was) throw its head back and laugh, voice way too deep to be female.

"Yeah, haha," Sonic laughed dryly as Tails flew his way in, eyeing the situation warily. Instead of saying anything, he simply helped Sonic to his feet, keeping his eyes on the red Emerald swiper. "You're a downright comedian, whoever you are. Give those back, will you?"

"Get off my Island!" The rebuttal nearly overlapped Sonic's statement, and his ears snapped downward at the slight.

"Chillax, red dude. I'll leave if you give me my Emeralds ba—"

"_Your_ Emeralds? Ha_ha_! These rightfully belong to me, Guardian of Angel Island!"

"What are you talking abo— Hey! Get back here!"

The red thing turned tail and darted off without warning and Sonic shared a quick glance with Tails before taking off after him. After about two seconds of this however, it became apparent that the Guardian of Angle Triangle or whatever had disappeared.

"Well, this is great," Sonic mumbled, coming to a stop and rubbing his hand up and down his face. "We've been mugged by a bright red thing with dreadlocks," he paused before adding, "that apparently can turn invisible."

"_You_ were mugged, Sonic. I was with the plane."

"I mean, did you hear that guy? I don't think he could understand a word I said." Tails' reply went completely unnoticed as Sonic was too far gone in his tirade. "Did he even have _ears_?"

"Oh, look, a badnik," Tails called unenthusiastically, pointing at a fast, pig-like robot moving toward them. "Kill it Sonic. It'll make you feel better."

"—where does he get off stealing the Emeralds from me? Didn't he see that I was using the— Hey! A badnik! One sec kid, lemme fix this."

Tails' expression could have leveled mountains.

o0o

_**~Syncopation::Suspension~**_

You don't like Dr. Robotnik.

But, you like that blue punk even less.

How dare he come prancing onto your Island? Abusing the power of the Emeralds, on top of that! And then he has the gall to claim the Emeralds as _his_. Ha, you showed him. His grandkids probably felt that punch.

And that kid. What was he? Were two tails _normal_ on the surface? You don't think so, because the few mobians that you've caught glimpses of seem pretty normal; well, at least by your standards. That blue hedgehog seemed pretty unusual too, all things considered. How could blue be an evolutionary choice? There was no hiding from predators with blue fur.

Of course, your red fur can't hold a candle against that argument, so you give him a pass on that. At least the fox thing is a normal color.

"What did you do with the Chaos Emeralds?" the human asks when you stalk back to his ship, glowering and fuming. His question sets off another round of anger, and you swing at a helpless plant, swiping it with your large hand.

"They're in the Special Zones. Your blue freak won't be able to get them. Those Zones are impossible to navigate."

In all actuality, you had intended to take the Emeralds to the Master to check them for contamination and tampering, but the stones had had their own plans. As soon as you had broken away from the hedgehog and fox, they had flown out of your hands and into the air before disappearing in flashes of lights. You had panicked for half of a second before the Master sent you a pulse of reassurance. You checked a Warp Ring, and it was active, so it was pretty obvious that the Emeralds had returned home.

"You put them _where_? How do you think he got them in the first place, lying around?"

Your eyeridge twitches at his tone and your curl a hand into a fist, clearly making a threatening gesture. "Do not question me, human. I can still throw you off of this Island." You pause, examining a rip in your gloves. "_Without_ your flying machine."

The man's face pales considerably. He knows that the threat isn't empty and that he's still here only because of your good graces. Good, you have him exactly where you want him.

"Uh," Dr. Robotnik coughs, meekly taking a few steps away from you. "Shall I set up some defenses around the Master Emerald? We wouldn't want Sonic to get his hands on it."

Your eyes narrow and you don't answer for a few seconds, instead opting to stare at him. He squirms. "The Master Emerald is hidden in a place only I know about. You don't need to see it."

"Well, yes but—"

"No."

And that is that.

o0o

_***Modulation:*:Trill***_

When Manic reemerges from his bedroom, it is with perfect health and a well of knowledge. He has spent a week reading the book his mother handed him, and he feels like his brain is going to explode from the strain all of the information. He had to constantly cross-reference it with the Chaos Theory book he started weeks ago, because the two were so closely interwoven, to the point that Manic wondered if they were written by the same person.

He has been in his room for almost two weeks, and Sonia practically tackles him when she sees him for the first time. She has been unable to visit him – something about her health and lack of antibodies – and when she hugs him, Manic realizes that he missed her too, surprisingly. They have not spent that long away from each other since they met those months ago in that club, and he realizes, she has become a staple feature of his life – something to always expect and rely on.

Of course, now that she has more royal duties than him, they don't see as much of each other, but at least he can accompany her. With his sickness though, he had been forced into quarantine, with only the books and the occasional visit of his mother to keep him company.

"Don't get that sick ever again," Sonia whispers in his ear as she squeezes him. Her head is resting on his shoulder and her hair is tickling his ear, but he doesn't care. When he doesn't answer right away, she leans back and punches his shoulder. "Promise."

He winces and resists the urge to reach up and rub the sore spot. "Jeeze, I promise, sis. Give me a chance to think."

"You had enough time to think," she winks at him and then leans back in for another hug. "We have work to do." Her voice is conspiratorially low, and his ear raises a bit to hear her. "Meet me in my room tonight, at midnight."

He stiffens and suddenly becomes aware of Bartleby's eyes on his back – watching them. "Wha—" he starts, only to have Sonia squeeze a little harder. He can practically hear his spine creak at the force.

"Midnight Manic."

He sighs. He has only just gotten well and she already has a scheme cooked up. He feels a pang and is reminded of Sonic. This is exactly like something he would do. "Fine," he whispers back.

000

When Manic jiggles the door open at three minutes until midnight, he isn't shocked when Sonia reaches out as soon as the door opens and yanks him into the room. The lights are off, the windows open to allow moonlight in, and he finds himself blinking to allow his eyes to adjust. His sister is standing in front of him, dressed in full black with her quills pulled back into a tight ponytail. She glances over him once, lets out a suffering sigh at his bright orange vest and free quills, and stalks across the room to her closet. He quickly follows.

Her room is a lot bigger than his – almost twice the size if you include the closet – and it is a lot more extravagant. The walls have embellished designs, the bed is a four poster with an elaborate canopy designed with grandeur and privacy in mind, and there is no book case in sight. It is the perfect room for her – so very royal and rich.

"Here." He catches the heavy sweater with both hands, and he barely glances at it before he scowls at her. It is a midnight black color, and the knitting is so thick, he is sure he will be unable to move once he puts it on. "Don't give me that face, Manic. We need to blend in."

"I don't think wearing nothing but black is 'blending in' sis."

She plants her hands on her hips. "Stealth, Manic. That kind of blending in."

He sighs and shakes his head before shedding his vest and yanking the sweater on. It slides over the quills on his back, bending them uncomfortably and he sends her a suffering grimace. She quickly comes toward him and adjusts the fabric so the precut slits fit over his quills and he heaves a sigh of relief.

"Have no idea how you do this, sis. Clothes suck." She doesn't answer as she has stuck her head out the door and is looking down the hall. "You might want to tell me what exactly we're doing before you start to go ninja-stealth on me. I'm really bad at sneaking."

"Says the thief."

"Ex-thief."

"Whatever." She rolls her eyes. "We're going into the city to find out some information. I have a feeling that something's up."

Manic resists the urge to groan. "You have me up at midnight to go sneaking out of the palace on a _hunch_?"

She looks back at him with a bored expression. "I thought you would be all for this. I know you hate being cooped up in here."

"Well, I _am_, but the _principle_, Sonia."

"Manic," she pauses, searching for the correct word to describe him, "you're...contradictory."

"Yeah, well, you're a spiny annoying princess but you don't hear me calling names."

"Can we just go? The sooner we leave the sooner we get back."

"Lead the way, SAP."

000

It is a small chore to escape the palace unnoticed. They have to do a bit of running, shadow dodging, and rolling, but they eventually manage it. The guards are laughingly unaware of what's going on around them. Manic is positive that he could have walked through with a blinking neon sign and they _still_ wouldn't have noticed him. When they reach the walls, they stand at the base and look up at the darkening sky.

"Well, this is huge roadblock. C'mon Sonia, let's go back in." Manic turns to do just that, but his sister grabs the back of his shirt and yanks him back with enough force to choke him. He scowls and adds this to the growing list of reasons for him to never ever wear clothes again.

"You think I didn't plan for the wall, Manic? I'll throw you over and climb up after."

"Wait wait, Sonia. Did you just say _throw_? Do I look like a hedge-pigeon to you?"

"No, but you're starting to sound like a _hedge-chicken_."

Manic heaves a sigh. "Why can't we just go to the gate?"

"Scott's on patrol. You know how serious he is about following Mother's orders."

The green hedgehog scowls. Scott is one of the few guards that actually takes his job seriously. With Robotnik gone, there is no threat to Mobius and most of the guards are young and inexperienced, so they don't really know what they're doing. Scott, on the other hand, is the new head of the Guard, one of the few remaining of the original guards who served with Argus. He knows what it is like to be a real guard, and won't let them out even if they order him.

Manic glances up at the towering wall and changes tactics. "Why can't we go tomorrow?"

The pink female heaves a suffering sigh. "Tomorrow I'm going with Mother to the lower provinces to check out exactly what's going on."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You'll be in charge until we get back."

Manic laughs, loud and brusque. "Good one Sonia." He catches sight of the expression on her face and his laughter chokes off. "You're jokin' right?"

"Afraid not Manic."

"But, but, Sonia, I can't—"

"Can we talk about this later? We have work to do."

"Yeah fine. Just throw me over already. Maybe I'll break my neck and won't have to face tomorrow."

"That's the spirit." She laces her fingers together and kneels down so he can put his foot in her palms. He does so with a bit of trepidation. "Put your hands on my head." She tightens her grip on his foot, creating a cradle with her fingers, and digs her feet into the dirt. "When I toss you up, I need you to clench your body so you won't hit the wall. When you land, try to pull a Sonic and curl into a ball, okay?"

"Clench and ball." He smirks, looking down at her. "I hope you don't talk to Bartleby like that, sis."

She huffs and rolls her eyes. "You're such a boy. You ready?"

"Clenched and prepared for takeoff—aaaaah!" Sonia heaves, and he soars into the air. His arms and legs flail outward, not at all following her instructions, and he goes over the wall as a clump of screaming, thrashing green fur. She scowls when he lands with a thump.

"Ow."

The princess looks up at the sky and takes a deep breath. "Bet you're enjoying the show, huh Sonic?" There is no response and she shakes her head before hooking her fingers into the stone and heaving herself up, hand over hand, until she reaches the top. She lands on the ground seconds later and yanks Manic to his feet.

"Ow," he repeats, just for her benefit.

000

They city is dark. All of the windows are shuttered and the only signs of life are the streetlights, but even they seem to be hiding in the dark. Everyone is safely in their homes, deeply ingrained instincts from Robotnik's reign still dictating their every move. Night is a dangerous time; a time when people would disappear from the streets.

Manic and Sonia pad quietly down the sidewalk. The whole city is silent. Even their steps seem muffled in the hush.

"What's up with everyone?" Manic ventures into the quiet. Sonia jumps and spins around to glare at him.

"I don't know," she answers when he holds his hands up in a placating gesture. "Though it _is_ late. Maybe everyone's asleep."

"_Everyone_?" The boy's tone is dubious and he cocks an eyebrow. "Usually cities like this are alive at all times, or, at least, that's what I've heard."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Sonic told me once…"

Sonia turns again to stare at him. "How did Sonic know that? He never left Robotropolis before he met us."

"How did Sonic know a lot of stuff, sis? He just _did_."

She huffs and rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything more. Instead, she chooses to flatten her ears against the wind and smooth down her dark trench coat.

They walk along silently for a few more minutes before Manic speaks again. "So, what exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything suspicious," Sonia replies in a guarded tone. "Anything that wouldn't usually be on the streets late at night…" She cranes her head back and forth. "Like that old man!" Her hand suddenly snakes out and points straight at an elderly mobian toddling his way down the sidewalk opposite of them. She takes off toward him, her coattails flapping behind her.

"You and I have very different definitions of 'suspicious,' sis." Manic's voice is low and he turns dejectedly on his heel to follow her, making sure look both ways before crossing the street. "And way to heed traffic, princess."

He reaches Sonia and the man seconds later, but that is just enough time for his sister to go into full out interrogation mode. He interrupts her question of 'where were you on the evening of two Saturdays ago?'.

"Sonia, chill. You can't just take flight because there's some guy walking on a public sidewalk."

"Hush Manic, I'm trying to talk to this nice man. Now, tell me agai—"

"Sonia—" The boy tries to stop her, but he is interrupted by an old, decrepit voice.

"Oh, it's quite all right, young man. I was just about to invite your lovely friend here in for a cup of tea. It's not suitable for a young lady such as herself to be out and about alone at this hour."

"I'll have you know I can take care of myse—"

"Um, I don't think we really want some tea right now. Thanks for offerin—"

"Oh, I insist. Do come in. I haven't had visitors in a long time." He turns to a door that is half set into a wall, cleverly hidden. Manic blinks, mentally scolding himself for allowing this old geezer to frighten him.

"C'mon Manic, it won't hurt. Maybe he can answer some of our questions." Sonia is already through the door, so Manic has no choice really. He mumbles a few choice words before following her.

o0o

_***Modulation:*:**__**Lyricism***_

"_Mommy!" a tiny, high pitched voice yelled, and Aleena looked up from her reports just in time to see the doors to her private meeting room burst open. The finance minister sitting across from her jerked in his seat as a small pink blur darted into the room and burrowed its way into the queen's skirts. "Sonic and Manic are being mean!"_

_The woman tsked, sending the minister a suffering smile, before bending down and pulling the skirt-mole into her lap. The only princess of Mobius squealed as she was lifted into the air, and she giggled when her mother sent her a huge smile. "What're your brothers up to now?"_

"_Sonic keeps stealing my doll and running away!" she tattled, crossing her arms and pouting adorably. The finance minister chuckled. "And when I chase him to get it back, Manic throws bugs on me!"_

_The queen sighed and her ears rose as a round of faint chuckles filtered in through the cracked door. She turned just in time to see a small blue and tan face peak around the door, bright eyes wide. Her eldest had a cheeky smile on his face, and it widened when he caught her looking at him. She sent him a good natured glare and he ducked away. Seconds later, a green head replaced his, and he squeaked when he realized that Aleena was watching. _

"_Sonic!" she heard him whine to his brother. "Momma can see us!" _

"_I know, Manic! Be quiet!"_

"_Boys," she called with a touch of warning. This hissing conversation ceased. "Come in here please."_

_It took a few seconds of arguing over who would be first before Manic eventually padded in, head downcast and face subdued, the perfect remorseful child. Sonic followed him moments later, blowing through the doors in a ball and bouncing off the table right in front of the finance minister. However, his young mind wasn't nearly coordinated enough for him to comprehend landing, and he crashed onto the table on his belly. He was a resilient child however, and he quickly scrambled to a sitting position on the edge of the table right in front of his mother. He leaned toward his sister, grinning hugely. _

"_Sonic," Aleena began when Sonia started to squirm at his unwavering stare. "What have you been up to?"_

"_Nothing, Mom." His answer was quick, and she set him with a knowing look. "Sonia's a tattle-tell." He must have decided to cut his losses, considering how his sister was smiling winningly at him. "We just wanted to play with her…"_

"_I don't want to play with you!" the girl argued back, crossing her arms. "You're mean and you two always team up against me!"_

"_Well, duh. You're a girl." This was said like it was the most obvious argument in the world. "And it's no fun with only two of us. Mom had three kids for a reason."_

_Aleena choked on her laughter, causing three pairs of dark eyes to look up at her. "Sonic, that's…" She floundered for a few seconds before deciding to follow her son's example and cut her loses. "Yes, that's exactly why. I had three of you so you would never have to be alone."_

"_Told ya," the blue child bragged, leaning toward his brother. "You owe me some animal crackers, Manic." The youngest brother scowled in response. _

"_Look, boys," the queen cut in, glancing toward the finance minister. He seemed amused, but the childlike enchantment would wear off soon enough. "Leave your sister alone, all right? She doesn't want to play with you right now. Girls need some time alone."_

"_But, you don't. You're always having meetin's with people." Manic's voice was feeble, as if he was scared he was going to get in trouble by speaking. _

"_I get alone time at night, when you three are asleep." This was a fib, as she usually spent her nights with them, sitting in their room and listening to them breathe. "How about you guys go play in the garden? I bet Argus would love to play hide-and-seek with you."_

_The little boys' eyes lit up at the idea and Sonic was gone in a flash of blue, already yelling her captain of the guard's name. Manic followed at more subdued pace after rushing forward to give her a hug. He even apologized to Sonia and asked if she wanted to play too, to which she replied with a resounding 'yes!'. _

"_Thanks Mommy," the girl squeaked at her as her younger brother left the room._

"_Of course, darling. Us girls needs to stick together." Aleena smiled as her daughter dropped onto the floor and disappeared out the door. _

"_What charming children you have, Aleena," the minister chuckled, folding his hands over his ample belly. His mustache twitched. "They have such strong character."_

"_Yes," the queen sighed, turning back to the reports. "Shall we get back to work? We need to sort out this mechanical shortage down south."_

"_That we do…" the minister chuckled. _

_Outside, a childlike squeal could be heard, and Aleena's heart lightened a bit. All was well in her family. _

_The minister's chuckles grew louder for a few seconds and her stomach heaved upwards in warning. Then, it passed and she turned back to her reports. There will be time to worry over the human sitting across from her later; for now, she needed to focus on her kingdom. _

00

_The scene shifts in time and place. It is months later, and she is in her children's bedroom, straightening their beds for the tenth time that day. The Oracle is standing near her, hands clasped in front of him. _

"_I implore you, my queen. Get rid of that human. He will only bring suffering to you, your family, and your people."_

_The woman pauses in her fidgeting. Her triplets are at the doctor – all three have contracted a cold, and she is worried. She allowed the Oracle into the room because she believed that he would have a message on their health, not a doomsday prophecy. "What will you have me do? I cannot just dismiss one of my senior ministers."_

"_Why not? You are the queen."_

"_It simply isn't done, Oracle. The decorum of societ—"_

"_Are you so bound by decorum that you will threaten your eldest's life?"_

"_What? What are you talking about?!"_

"_That human is going to take over this kingdom." His voice was matter-of-fact and the queen can already feel herself going faint at his words. She stumbles to sit on a small footstool. "And you and your children are going to go into hiding. You must separate them, allow them to grow up without knowledge of you or each other."_

"_But, they're already old enough to speak and walk! They know who I am."_

"_They are young. They will forget. They will grow without knowledge of their heritage, and, when they are old enough, their lives will be ripped out from under them, torn asunder by the very human you will not dismiss because of decorum. They will know of a Prophecy, a Prophecy that tells of a Council of Four, and it will spur them to fight. One day, you will get rid of this minister, but at a great cost. The blue child will die, and you will have led him there."_

"_What! But, how can I stop this?"_

"_You mus—" He cuts himself off, his whole body going ridged for half of a second. "The decision has been made," he beings again solemnly. "I have received another vision. The end is coming, for your kingdom and your son. The choice is out of your hands now."_

Aleena wakes with a gasp. There is something wrong. Terribly wrong. She forces herself out of bed and yanks down the pull cord hanging only inches away. Seconds later, the closest housekeeper rushes in, straightening her night clothing.

"What's the matter, my queen?!"

"Gather my children. I fear there is something in the city. Something that threatens all of us."

o0o

…_**:Coda:…**_

"Well, that was easier than I expected," Sonic commented, tossing the green Emerald between his hands as he walked out of the cave the Warp Ring had been hidden in.

Tails glared at him, heaving for breath, harried and exhausted. "I did all of the work."

"Oh, c'mon, Tails, you just flew me over a few of those red spheres. Give me some credit."

"If I hadn't grabbed you, you wouldn't have that Emerald right now. Give _me_ some credit."

"Fine, you get twenty-three percent of the credit."

"_What_?" Tails squawked indignantly. "There's no way you did over seventy percent of the work. I freaking told you which way to go!"

"Yeah, but I did all of the running."

"You think flying above you is _easy_?"

"You didn't have to deal with the ground speeding up, did you?"

"No, but I had to carry you when you screwed up."

"You encourage cheating." Sonic's tone was scandalized, but his smile gave away his lack of meaning.

Tails threw up his hands and tried to keep the answering grin off his face, but he failed. "Next time, I'll just run behind you, okay? Then you can claim all one hundred percent of the Emerald."

Sonic picked his hands up in a placating gesture. "Okay, bro, fine."

That ended the conversation and they tromped forward in comfortable silence after that, only the natural sounds of the forest interrupting the quiet. Sonic was struck by how different this type of adventure was to what he had been doing before, with his siblings. In the resistance, they would wait for assignments and then carry them out to the best of their ability before returning back to Robotropolis and doing it all over again. It was tedious, restraining, and boring in Sonic's opinion. Now though, he decided where and when he went. There were no missions and no obligations besides the ones he set out for himself.

The fact that Tails was there made the whole experience even more enjoyable. In the few months between the Death Egg and now, life had been slow, easy even, and Sonic had actually enjoyed it. It went against his nature, lazing around, not doing anything, but it suited him. Tails quickly morphed from his timid, post-Cocoa Island self into a snarky jokester. That was the true fox; Sonic could tell from the effortless way he smiled and laughed. The kid lived in a way that made the hedgehog jealous: without a care in the world. The hero had resolved to try to do the same, but his past seemed intent to come back and bite him.

Really, it shouldn't have surprised him when news of Sonia's coronation and his funeral finally reached Westside Island. After all, some of the people that lived there were refugees from Mobotropolis, so they were bound to have newspapers shipped in. Besides, word of mouth was quicker and more effective than any type of mass media, and he had heard a few people talking about it.

The first time he saw the newspaper though, he almost had a heart attack. He had been taking Tails to get a decent pair of gloves in Metropolis Zone – as the extra pair the hedgehog had received from Apollo was way too big for the fox, despite the straps he wore over them – when a boy standing on the side of the sidewalk practically threw it at him. It wasn't until after he had it in his hands that he heard the kid yelling.

"Free surplus newspapers from Robotropolis! Get 'em while they're here!"

Sonic quickly hid the paper under his arm to keep Tails from getting curious about it, and hurriedly dragged the kid away and to a privately owned glove shop. He sent Tails off to find a suitable pair before pulling the paper back out and giving it a good once over, taking note of the date at the top.

The headline was bold and in all capital letters, and it blazoned itself into his mind, silently accusing and consoling him.

**PRINCE TAKEN, PRINCESS CROWNED**

For some reason, that title seemed empty and patronizing at the same time. In black and white, the story of his kingdom – his family – could be summed up in two statements, four words, and Sonic couldn't help but feel slighted, as if all that time he gave to the resistance didn't matter. The end result was all that counted, and, in their eyes, he was dead. It stung for a few seconds before he reminded himself that he chose to leave it all behind.

When he finally got past the headline, his eyes trailed down the page and his thoughts were shocked into stunned silence when he saw the picture. It was a drawing, nothing more than a sketch, but it was a perfect representation of him. Sonic immediately recognized Manic's signature in the corner and his thoughts zoomed back to life, pelting him with memory after memory of Manic sitting next to him, drawing and sketching. He stumbled to lean against a wall, staring at his reflected smiling face. The caption under the picture was simple, but it tugged at Sonic's heart.

_The prince as seen through the eyes of his brother; no recent pictures of the prince are available at this time. _

Sonic forced his eyes away from the drawing, ignoring the thoughts that annoyingly prodded at him, demanding that he figure out what had prompted Manic to draw it. They tracked to the text of the article, and, after a round of speed reading, he was relieved to see that his mother had decided to keep his name out of the press. It was a small gesture, one meant to mirror the ambiguity the whole family had shared since Robotnik's hostile takeover of the kingdom, and Sonic sent a silent thank you to her. She may not have known it, but he was still watching over him, in a small way.

The funeral had been a small ordeal, the paper reported, with only a few dozen noble families in attendance. The local Chaos temple had offered to host it, but Aleena chose for a nonreligious ceremony, allowing her remaining children a bit familiarity. It had been held on June 23, the same day as the triplets' birthday, and there had been refreshments afterwards.

One paragraph. That was all his memorial service received. For some reason, he was thankful for that. He was happy they didn't dwell on him for long. Instead, they turned to happier things.

Sonia's coronation had been a big event, involving the whole city. The celebration lasted all day, and, in some parts of the city, well into the night. Princess Sonia was beautiful, Queen Aleena ravishing – showing no signs of having been on the run for the past twelve years – and the accompanying nobles properly dressed up as well.

Manic, Sonic realized, wasn't mentioned anywhere. It was almost as if he didn't exist. In the picture – a full color shot, no doubt splurged for – showed Sonia and his mother elaborately dressed, standing on the steps of the palace, a large, newly white-washed building with the proper flags flying from its spires, waving at the large mob of people standing in front of them. The Crown of Mobius gleamed on Aleena's brow, properly shined and cleaned, and a new, smaller crown was hidden under Sonia's hair fringe. It was a simple gold band, not nearly as elaborate as the queen's, but it had enough embellishment to establish her as the future ruler. He could see the barest of green quills hiding behind the two of them, and Sonic scowled, looking back at the words printed on the page.

Ah, there he was, in the last sentence. _The coronation ball was a joyously successful occasion, though Prince Manic did not attend. _

Sonic didn't have a chance to puzzle over that, because Tails chose that moment to rush back, waving a pair of gloves over his head.

After that day, Sonic had been looking for excuses to get away from Westside. His name might not have been brought up, but that picture was a perfect reflection of him, and he had been receiving second looks when he was in the city. When Tails mentioned a magical floating island, Sonic had jumped at the chance to go check it out (after deciding that Tails wasn't insane), and here they were, walking through a dense forest, chasing a red Emerald stealer, and—

"Hey, Sonic," Tails inquiry jolted the hedgehog out of his thoughts and he looked down at his friend, "how come there's badniks up here anyway? Do you think Robotnik's here?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, kid." He rubbed the fox on the head. "I mean, his Death Egg didn't land back on Mobius. Where do you think it went?"

Tails shrugged, unable to form a decent enough response, and instead chose to lace his hands behind his head. "I wonder what that red thing's name is. He seemed really angry we were up here."

Sonic's expression dropped. "Yeah well, I'm angry he punched me in the face."

"He didn't hurt you, Sonic." Tails' tone was dubious and he sent his older brother a look that said as much.

"He hurt my pride," Sonic sniffed. "C'mon kiddo, let's speed up. We need to figure out where this path heads."

"Race ya!" Suddenly, Tails was a few feet ahead of him, running with all of his might. Seconds later, he was hovering above the ground, his tails pushing him forward at a speed Sonic could admire. The hedgehog grinned and followed, catching up to and overtaking the fox in a heartbeat.

000

When they came across Robotnik, Sonic wasn't surprised.

The giant fortress dropping bombs though, now _that_ was surprising.

It wasn't that hard to outrun though, and the human's fire machine was even less of a threat. Sonic grinned after him as he sputtered and sparked in a feeble retreat, declaring that this wouldn't be the last of him blah blah blah. Sonic high-fived Tails and sent his friend a thumbs up.

"So, where next?" the fox asked, eyes hooded against the sun.

The hedgehog looked around, shading his face with his hand. "Do you think you could fly me up ther— Oh, crud."

"Don't relax just yet, hedgehog!" a deep voice yelled. Tails' ears snapped up while Sonic's did the opposite in order to match his flat expression. He heaved a deep suffering sigh. "The fun's just begun!"

The hero rolled his eyes, craning his neck back to look at their aggressor. The red Emerald thief was standing on the ledge Sonic had pointed out with his right foot poised over what looked like a giant gray button. "What is this, a carnival?" Sonic snarked back, ignoring the sinking feeling in his belly.

"No, I can assure you, it's not." The red one's face morphed into a cruel smile. "Carnivals are fun." He threw his head back, cackling loudly.

Sonic twirled his right index finger next to the side of his head to signal to Tails just how crazy the crimson one was. "You just said that the fun's just started…"

The thief huffed, abruptly cutting off his own laughter. "For _me_." He grinned. "I heard that you can't swim! Guess where you're headed?" Without waiting for a reply, he rocked forward, pressing the button all the way down.

Unexpectedly, Sonic felt his sinking feeling morph into a plummeting one as the bridge suddenly disappeared. Gravity grabbed him greedily, jerking him downward in a dizzying freefall. He was barely aware of Tails falling next to him, screaming like a banshee.

When they landed, it was with a splash.

000

Mushroom Hill Zone was interesting, that was for sure. Tails was having a blast bouncing around on the mushrooms while Sonic was constantly on the lookout for chicken tornados. It wasn't taking them that long to get through the Zone, all things considered. There was a lot of climbing and swinging, but most of it was easily avoidable. Sonic was seriously starting to wonder if Robotnik had lost his touch, if there was such a thing.

When Knuckles stuck his head out of a secret passage, it was only by luck that Sonic saw him. He was lying on his belly, waiting for Tails to decide that the mushrooms in this area were no longer springy enough, with his head extended over a small drop off. The red echidna had appeared from nowhere, as far as Sonic was concerned, and emerged from a cave similar to the ones the Warp Rings were hidden in. He took a look around before apparently deeming it safe – never looking up – and stomped on one of his magical switches, making Sonic stiffen. The ground didn't drop away and the sun didn't go out, and Sonic scowled out of disappointment. Then, the echidna stalked away.

"Tails," Sonic summoned his friend with a snap of the fingers and he waited until the fox was standing next to him. "Stay here. I need to check something out."

"Okay!" the kit chirped, turning around to go back to his makeshift trampoline.

Chuckling at the childlike actions of his friend, Sonic couldn't help but grin before jumping down to the lower level. He easily stepped on the switch, rocking onto it to keep most of his weight on his other foot in case it was booby trapped. The wall in front of him cranked open without a hitch and his eyes narrowed a bit.

Inside the cave-thing was a Warp Ring, but this one was different than the others. It wasn't so much the fact that it was flashing different colors – though that sure was different – as the energy that was radiating out of it. It filled Sonic, and the Emeralds hiding in his quills sang in a deep chord, emitting what could have only been the purest form of their essence through sound. Sonic's inner musician celebrated the perfect sound, and its festivity escalated with every step he took toward the Ring.

The trip through it was dizzily disorienting and Sonic was spat out of the ring with a splitting headache. Starbursts of light and the swirling colors coupled with a spinning landscape upended his inner sense of vertigo and it was all he could do to keep his lunch where it properly belonged in his stomach. Sure he was accustomed to pinball-like Special Zones with bright colors and strange, forever changing backdrops, but that didn't mean he _enjoyed_ them; his stomach had fallen out of practice. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, breathing deeply through his nose and his whole body shuddered, his quills rising and his ears snapping down. The hedgehog resisted the urge to curl into himself, instead opting to force his head upward to take a look at his surroundings.

The chamber was nothing more than a glorified cave with an elongated hole on the colossal ceiling far above his head. All around him large stalagmites were raised from the ground, each of them holding an eerie blue sheen. Scattered infrequently around him were yellow crystals, the gems hanging off of flat surfaces in clumps. He was standing on an elaborate platform built onto a particularly wide and flattened mesa inside the cavern, the tile beneath him a soft pastel green tint. Around every edge laid a dark abyss that lead into deep into the earth and far beyond what the eye could see. Set into the floor of the wide room were eight large foundations, the seven identical ones smaller and closer to the ground. The However, the eighth pedestal, the largest one, was occupied by a luminous green stone.

The gem was huge, pulsing, singing in a way the twanged in time with his heart and yanked at his soul. He felt his senses expand, increasing and vacuuming inward at the same time. His eyes bore deeply into the Emerald, and it swirled with power. It invited him forward and he forced himself to a standing position, anchoring himself on his feet.

Then, without warning, the world went black.

o0o

_**~Syncopation::Even Note~**_

When you come back to the Hidden Palace and find that hedgehog bent over the Master Emerald with his hands splayed flat on its faceted surface and his forehead touching it, you nearly have a heart attack. You take a step to charge at him and demand _what the heck he thought he was doing, touching the Master_, but a pulse of Chaos Energy suddenly flares up. Your finely tuned senses pick it up as a wave of green, and it smacks into you, throwing you off your feet and onto your back. You land roughly, all of the air in your lungs escaping in a great _huff_ and your head is left spinning from the backlash. The Energy buzzes through your head, purposely trying to confuse you, and you force up your mental filters, using the training your grandfather forced into your head those many years ago. The walls block the Energy and you struggle to sit up.

The hedgehog is unharmed. You fight back the wave of shock that threatens to overwhelm you and you instead focus on the Master Emerald, reaching out to it with your senses. You skirt over the fingers of Chaos Energy flowing to the walls of the cave, dance over the lines going to the seven gems clustered in the hedgehog's quills, and ignore the strong gold band that is connecting the intruder's head to the Master. You flow up your own line – a pale yellow in comparison to the hedgehog's glowing gold – and probe at the gem.

It snaps back at you, severing the connection like it is nothing. You are sent skittering backwards on your hands and knees before you realize what you are doing and you scowl. The Master has rejected you, you realize with a sinking feeling. It has turned to this hedgehog – this imposter, this tormentor of Angel Island – and has formed a connection stronger than yours with him. Suddenly, you feel your life – your _duty_ slipping through your fingers – and you fight off the desperation already building in your belly. Instead, you replace it with anger, and you clench your fists.

You get to your feet and move to attack the hedgehog, but the spike of Energy comes again. You are ready this time, and you plant your feet. You manage to stay standing, but it does push you back a few feet. Okay, the Master doesn't want you to touch its new choice. Fine.

"Hey!" You bark forcefully. The hedgehog jerks away from the gem like he has been burned and you resist the urge to grin. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Wha—? I-I don't know." The blue one's voice is incredibly confused and you are tempted to believe him. But then you notice the band of gold still snaking into him and that temptation goes away.

"Get away from the Master Emerald!" You try to move forward again, but the Chaos Energy pushes back, buffeting you almost all the way to the opposite wall. "You don't know what you're tampering with!"

"The Master what? Look, dude, I don't even know how I got up here." He gestures to the dais the stone is set in and then to the five foot drop to the ground. "Last thing I remember, I was standing where you are."

"Get away from it!" you repeat, growling.

"Jeeze, I will, once I figure out how to get out of here without breaking my leg...and how to keep you from clocking me into next week."

You grind your teeth at his tone and pound your fist into the open palm of your opposite hand. "I'm going to count to three and you are going to be off of that pedestal before I finish."

"_I can't_," he presses back. "Do you see this drop? Do you want me to leave here or not?"

"I've seen you jump off of higher things." Your tone is on the edge of whining, but you don't care. There is something about this blue character that pushes your buttons.

"Yeah but that was when there was grass or snow to catch me. In here, there's just stone. Stone plus gravity equals splat."

You throw up your hands. "Why not ask the Master Emerald for help? It's already chosen you over me—" You abruptly cut yourself off. Did you really just say that out loud? One look at the hedgehog's face and you know that, yes, you did.

"Chosen? Look, whatever your name is, I think the thin air up here has seriously messed up your head. This giant Chaos Emerald can't _choose_—"

Suddenly, the Master flares and the seven Chaos Emeralds trapped in the blue one's quills answer with flashes of their own. They dislodge themselves and circle both the hedgehog and Master Emerald once before floating merrily to the seven smaller daises and depositing themselves to their rightful places. Their color seeps away, draining into their very hearts, and the hedgehog blanches.

"What?!" He rounds on you. "What did you do?!"

"I do not control the Emeralds, hedgehog! They do as they please!" You pause as a low hum meets your ears and you cock your head to the side. "They have returned home to recharge and reach their potential. It will take them seven decades to grow to their proper sizes."

"Seve— Wait, you mean _seventy years_? _What._"

"Get down hedgehog." You realize that you have let him dawdle for too long, have told him too much; you might have to kill him to keep the Island's secrets intact. "You cannot tamper with the realignment process."

"Realignment my ass," he mutters, turning away from you and facing the nearest Emerald. It is a good five feet away. He takes a few steps backwards so the quills on his back are nearly touching the Master Emerald, and your heart seizes as you realize that he is doing. He can't possibly be thinking…

But then, he takes those precious few strides of run-up and launches himself off the main pedestal. He soars through the air, curls into a ball to control his trajectory, and smacks into the Emerald platform. He bounces off of the plinth and the ball flares open to become a mess of quills and limbs; he lets out a yell as his fall becomes unpredictable. He slams into the Emerald, landing right on his belly, and you can hear the wind being knocked out of him from across the room.

"GET OFF THE EMERALD!" You roar, rushing toward him. You only make it a couple of steps before the Master sweeps you off your feet with a wave of invisible Energy again. The hedgehog wheezes and rolls over, his hand stretched across his torso. Already, the gem under him is glowing, feeding off of the strong connection he has with the Master Emerald, and his form is flickering, blurring around the edges. "You're being pulled into the Other World!" you yell, but he cannot hear you. He is half invisible. "Even I don't know what's on the other side of the pathway!"

He looks up at you with wide, green eyes and tries to sit up. But, the Emerald flashes once and then, he is gone.

o0o

…_**:Allegro:…**_

Approximately two days later, Sonic and Tails emerged from a seventh Warp Ring (fourteenth if you counted the normal Chaos Emeralds), out of breath, but smiling. They finally managed to collect the seventh Super Emerald, and it now sat nestled with the others in the Emerald Chamber. They had seen less and less of the Guardian dude as they had slowly collected them, but they knew their luck wouldn't hold for long.

When Sonic was transported to the 'Other World' as the red one had called it, it had been another Special Zone. This one was a little more chaotic than the usual ones, but it was traversable and he had easily gotten the first Super Emerald. He had been spat back into the Emerald Chamber afterward but the Guardian had been gone. Sonic had shrugged it off and trudged back out, intent on telling Tails what had happened and to get moving. The fox hadn't believed him at first – _'a giant Emerald that kidnapped your mind?'_ – but one trip through the next Warp Ring had changed his tune.

Currently, they were walking through a volcano. Or, what seemed like a volcano. The whole Island seemed uneasy, and this Zone was especially volatile. There were _pools_ of lava, _waterfalls_ of lava, and spike traps mixed in amongst a multitude of robots disguised to look like rocks.

"Oh yeah! Did you _see_ that?! I totally just _owned_ that rock robot! Ten points to me!"

Tails had decided to make the whole thing a game, much to the hedgehog's chagrin.

"Kid, this isn't a video game."

"You're just upset because I'm beating you." Tails spun around so he was walking backwards in front of the hedgehog, his hands laced behind his head.

Sonic's ears twitched at that but he chose not to comment, instead deciding to plow forward. Tails was humming a lazy tune as they walked forward. The blue one turned his head to stare uneasily at a nearby lave pool before looking away with a grimace. It was only by sheer chance that he happened to glance up to see a large stalactite hundreds of feet above them crack and plummet to the ground – directly over Tails. He barely had time to compute the danger before he kicked off of the ground in an ungodly burst of speed.

Time seemed to stop as a massive wave of pure, unadulterated energy exploded over the area. A sharp crack pinpointed the exact moment the sound barrier was shattered, and in a split second he was moving faster than he ever had before. As he passed through the invisible barrier that tried and failed to slow him down, the deep blue color of his fur, the hue that he had always been so proud of, drained away leaving nothing behind but a brilliant whiteness akin to the sun shining off of new fallen snow. His ears pricked up in surprise a split second as he noticed that he felt perfectly content and more at ease with himself than he'd felt in a very long time.

He was literally _shining_, something that he only noticed with a mild interest, and his fur was shifting through the colors that he barely recognized as the ones within the seven emeralds. He could feel little crackles of energy rippling along his skin like sweet caresses and the ends of his mouth twitched up briefly.

He scooped up Tails moments later, three long seconds – a lifetime in this form – before the jagged rock sliced into the ground. They were gone, nothing more than a speck, instants after.

Sonic eventually stopped – literally, he just stopped, no skidding or sliding involved – a few thousand feet later. Tails dropped out of his arms, shaking and shivering, and fell on his backside facing the hedgehog, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"What…?" The hedgehog's voice echoed around them, fueled with pure power. A few feet away, a large chunk of rock fell into a lava pool.

"You're a _rainbow_," the fox breathed, his namesakes curling around his feet, "and you're sparkling…" He reached out and closed his small fist around one of the sparks floating around the hedgehog. He pulled his hand away and was pleasantly surprised to see the energy still in his hand, floating merrily up and down in his palm. "Your eyes are _green_…" This seemed the biggest shock of them all and he glanced up at his friend.

Suddenly, the sparkle sitting in the cup of his glove zoomed up and hovered at eye level with the fox. Then, it rocketed into his forehead, disappearing in a small flash of light. Tails made a noise of surprise and his eyes crossed in an attempt to see his brow.

"Your eyes are blue, kiddo."

Tails jerked and he slowly looked back up to Sonic. "Huh?" It wasn't exactly the most eloquent response, but it was all Tails could come up with due to the circumstances.

"That spark turned your eyes blue. Looks like the Emeralds like you too."

"Well, I did get to know them before you." Tails' voice had a playful edge and he pushed himself to his feet. "We got really close on Cocoa Island." He paused, running his eyes up and down his friend's form. "Does it hurt? Being so full of Energy?"

"No." It was a simple answer, but it was so full of force, there was no doubting him. "This is like the first transformation. Except… _more._"

"Hyper Sonic."

"What?"

"The first was Super Sonic and this is Hyper Sonic."

Sonic stared at him for a few speechless seconds and Tails couldn't help but feel like those green eyes were searching his very essence. Then, the hedgehog nodded.

"Let's get moving, huh? We have a date with Robotnik."

o0o

_**~Syncopation~**_

When Dr. Robotnik takes the Master Emerald, you have no one to blame but yourself.

You're just thankful that the hedgehog has enough tact not to say 'I told you so.'

"C'mon." This comes out as a grunt. The kick back of electricity from the human's machine was stronger and more damaging than you first anticipated. The pain is snaking its way up your torso, every nerve on fire. Your ribs have taken a beating courtesy of the hedgehog and it is getting a bit hard to breathe. But, you must get the blue one to Sky Sanctuary if he has any hope of getting the Master Emerald back.

You hate to think this, but he's your last hope.

You lead him to a Warp Point. The red sphere is cold to the touch but it warms at the contact, and suddenly, your world is spinning. You feel a pull at your stomach and then you are shooting through the air, nothing more than a few scattered atoms. You slam back into being with enough force to knock the breath from your lungs and you can only sit on the Warp Point and heave for breath. Sonic jumps off, quick to get away from you in case you changed your mind about being on his side, and looks up. Something has risen in the distance, and your stomach drops out.

The Death Egg. That _damn_ fortress that you _let_ the human build on your Island. It is fully functioning and free floating. It releases a battalion of robots into the air and they shoot off, no doubt to wreak havoc on the Island.

You shake your head. You can't think about Angel Island right now. It is slowly sinking below you, the ambient Chaos Energy from the Super Emeralds fighting to keep it in the air. Sky Sanctuary is your only hope. Robotnik did not count on the free floating landmass, separated from the main Island by everything but a thin cord of Energy. In the distance, you can just see the central tower brush the bottom of the Death Egg and, in that moment, you know there is a chance.

"You okay dude?" Sonic's voice has an edge to it you haven't heard before. Concern laced with desperation. It is an unusual combination. You wonder slightly if he knows that he has cocked his head to the side, his eyes wild with adrenaline and his fingers twitching at his sides. He is barely bouncing on his toes and you force yourself to stand.

"I'm fine. I'll get the bridge."

You leap across the chasm separating the Warp Point platform from the rest of Sky Sanctuary and fall on top of the switch. The bridge extends and the hedgehog darts across. He leans down to help you up, but you wave him off.

"Go. Get the Master Emerald back." You try to sound forceful but you know you fail. Still, he nods all the same and turns on his heel.

"Stay safe, Guardian."

"Knuckles." You have no idea why you offer him your name. This is no time for introductions.

"I'm Sonic. I'll be seein' ya Knux."

Then, he blasts off.

You watch him go, track the blur of his movements. You can only hope that he will be successful. He really is the last hope. He has to achieve what you have so royally failed at. It may have started out your responsibility to guard Angel Island and the Master Emerald, but the torch has been passed to him for now. You have done all that you can.

You have no idea how long you sit there, your body half-collapsed on the switch, before the rumbling starts. At first, it is nothing but a vibration in the ground. Then, it grows to a dull roar. You look up in time to see the Warp Point platform start to crumble and your eyes widen. You pull yourself to the bridge and gaze downward.

Angel Island is a large dark shape. It has moved too far for the Super Emeralds to keep Sky Sanctuary in the air.

It is falling.

o0o

_**...:Allegro:…**_

They dropped the Master Emerald off in the forest.

Then, they got out of there as quickly as they could.

"Knuckles likes his privacy!" Sonic yelled at Tails over the wind. "I don't think he'll want to see us again for a while."

"But, don't you think he'd want to thank you?"

Sonic glanced toward the ground as the plane slowly looped around the back of the Island. It was already slowly lifting out of the water. Knuckles had found the Master Emerald and was standing next to it with his arms crossed, a satisfied look on his face. He glanced up at the plane and gave a barely perceivable nod.

"I think he appreciates it."

Tails paused and followed his friend's sight line. He smiled when Knuckles nodded to him as well. "Where to next?"

"Hm. I was thinking the Mystic Ruins. It's back under mobian control, and I hear they have prime real estate up for grabs. Dirt cheap."

Tails laughed. "How'd you hear that? We were on a floating island for a week and a half."

Sonic smiled winningly but chose not to answer. Instead, he remarked, "What do you think about a workshop? We could use some roots. A home base."

"A workshop?!" The plane dipped slightly as Tails jerked the controls in surprise. "Really?! I'd be able to do some real work on the _Tornado _or–" He cut himself off with a gasp. "–or I could build my own plane! That'd be _sweet_!"

The hedgehog chuckled. "It's settled then. Let's go build us a workshop."

"Can it be named after me? Please Sonic?"

"Tails' Workshop… I like the sound of that."

The fox let out a sound that was half way between a squeal and a yell and Sonic grinned. It was so easy to make his little friend happy. Just give him a few tools and a space to work in and he was over the moon.

He owed Tails that much. Seeing Knuckles protect his home so vehemently had reminded Sonic just how homeless he and the fox were. They had been on the road for a while now, and the kit was a growing child. Their type of lifestyle wasn't exactly ideal for the developing youth. Even Sonic had had a steady place to live when he had been that age. Tails was family now, and Sonic took care of his family. He made sure with his siblings had a steady home and he would do the same for Tails.

"Thanks, big bro."

What kind of big brother would he be if he did otherwise?

"Of course, kiddo."

* * *

_And thus ends part one. See you next time for the beginning of part two!_

_A big thank you to Yami-sama42 (who I'm going to see over break, yay!) for writing the description of the Emerald chamber and the Hyper Sonic transformation. This chapter would have never been finished without you. Allow me to shower you with gratitude. _

_Next chapter will probably be a while. BUT! Never fear, I post sneak peeks to future chapters on my tumblr (link on the profile), so if you're pining for more, go give that a look~! I also reblog shiny things. _

_Reviews are cherished. _


	5. Accelerando

_Foray_ – a Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic Underground crossover

_4 – Accelerando_

**Notes:** It's been a while, huh guys? Heh, well, I'm finally back, after a long hiatus.

Though, I must say… I am blown over by the enthusiasm you guys have for it. Almost fifty reviews in four chapters?! *staggers* _And_ the alerts and favs are pretty much the same. _What_. Thanks _so much_! I've never had this much reaction for a story this quickly. Guess I'm doing something right, huh?

**WARNINGS: **Confusing timeline jumbles. I had a rough time getting across the passage of time so I apologize ahead of time. _Also, really bad writing, because I suck a lot after long breaks. _**Sorry for typos! I'm exhausted and I'll proof it later, promise.**

* * *

_***Modulation:*:Dissonance***_

The day Aleena and Sonia travel to the lower provinces and leave Manic alone to rule the land is also the day that everyone working on the palace grounds – save the guards, as they won't leave no matter how much he orders them – get dismissed by said green prince. They leave quickly, ready and eager to take advantage of the paid vacation.

Everyone except Bartleby, apparently.

"Manic, I must _insist_ that you get started on this list your mother left." The pompous prick (a name the youngest royal keeps to himself, as it will no doubt get his mouth washed out with soap) storms into Manic's bedroom, waving said list over his head.

Manic barely glances up from where his head is bent over the innards of his hoverboard. It has been on the fritz since he moved into the castle, and he hasn't had a chance to look at it until today. "You didn't knock," he grouses, digging into the wires and pulling one free to glare at it with narrowed eyes, "and it's Prince Manic to you, Bartlebutt."

Bartleby makes an offended noise at that and Manic smirks to himself as he puts the wire back and grabs a new one. There is a few seconds of silence before Bartleby grabs the back of his chair and swings it around so the green boy is facing him.

"The _list_, my prince!" The title is hissed, laced with contempt, and Manic can't help but smirk again. "Are you not aware—"

"Know about the chore list, man. She taped it to the 'frigerator." While he speaks, the prince pushes away from Bartleby and the chair rolls across the room, toward the bookshelves. Randomly grabbing a tome, Manic makes a show of flipping through it. "Supposed to upgrade the palace computers, arrange the music festival for next weekend, and be fitted for a suit or somethin'. Chillax, I'll get it done."

"I find that hard to believe, considering you dismissed everyone for the day."

"'Cluding you, if I 'member correctly. Go away." Snapping the book closed, Manic shoves off the wall with his feet and rolls back to the workbench, nearly knocking into his Royal Advisor. Bartleby lets out a groan of frustration and, out of the corner of his eyes, Manic sees him grab his head.

"Stubborn mule… Just as bad as Sonic."

It is barely whispered, but the green one still hears it. He whips around, brandishing his screwdriver like a saber, and his voice is hard when he manages to summon the words past the lump that always forms when Sonic is mentioned. "Bartleby, you're fired."

"Wha— _What_?"

"I didn't stutter." His voice is resigned, and he picks at another wire, ignoring the sputtering coming from behind him. "Get out. You're fired."

"You can't do that!"

"Sure I can. I'm in charge. _Go._"

Bartleby stammers out a few sounds that could or could not be words. Manic easily reaches up and grabs the taller mobian's shoulders to steer him toward the door. In the hall, Scott is standing at the ready, and he barely quirks an eyebrow when the Royal Advisor is pushed out of the prince's private quarters.

"He's fired." Manic hardly looks up at the cocker spaniel guard as he pokes his head out to make sure Bartleby doesn't wheel around and shove his way back in. "Escort him out."

"Yes, your highness."

"Don't call me that, Scott. It's Manic."

With that, he ducks back into the room. His board still needs fixing.

000

"My prince! Stop!"

Manic grins back at Scott as he zooms away on his hoverboard, easily losing the guard in the maze of halls. The private section of the castle was designed with safety in mind, so the corridors are thin and complex – to confuse an invading army and force them to line up two-by-two if they try to swarm the palace. Unfortunately, this design also made it nearly impossible for a guard on foot to keep up with a speeding prince on a newly repaired hoverboard.

Manic hears Scott let out a curse, and he laughs as he swerves around another corner, leading the guard away from his room and toward the main part of the castle. Scott follows at a steady jog, and the green boy can't help but be a little impressed at his stamina. He's pretty in shape for a thirty-something, carrying at least two hand guns and wearing those unpractical boots the queen designed. Spiffy they may look, but they weren't exactly fit for running.

A fact that Scott becomes painfully aware of when they lose traction on the tile as he tries to turn the corner and ends up crashing onto the floor on his stomach. Manic barely makes out the sound of the guard's wheezing over the purr of his board's thrusters and he grins again.

After taking a few more turns and blasting down a long hall, his hoverboard coughs and jerks under his feet, sending the prince falling forward. He smacks into the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs and he rolls head over heels for a few feet before coming to a stop against a wall, his feet in the air above him and his back bent painfully.

"Ouch," he mumbles for his own benefit as his malfunctioning hoverboard skids to a stop next to him. He glares at its lifeless form and resists the urge to kick it across the room.

Manic is content to lay there for a few minutes, waiting for his head to catch up with the rest of his body, but the sound of running feet and Scott's voice calling for him forces him to his feet. He snatches the board under his arm as he passes and ducks into the closest open doorway, pulling the door closed behind him. The head of the guard pounds past seconds later, yelling the green one's name between pants.

The game of aerial tag had started almost as soon as Scott had gotten back from escorting Bartleby out. Manic had been stepping onto the board right as the guard walked back up, and after taking once glance at him, Manic had decided he needed some time for himself. With a cocky smile thrown over his shoulder, the youngest royal had jumped onto the hoverboard, wobbled a bit as it tried to correct for his weight, and then zoomed away, tossing "I'm outta here!" over his shoulder as he disappeared around a corner.

Scott had been quick to chase him. Manic had overheard his mother order Scott to keep Manic safe, which the boy immediately took an affront to. He didn't need a babysitter; he had practically taken care of himself since before he could remember. The escape had been two-fold: ditch the security detail, and get some well deserved exercise on his hoverboard.

Too bad his board had decided to choke.

Again.

The stupid thing had been malfunctioning since he had accidentally slammed it into a wall at full speed. He assumed he'd knocked some wires loose, but after constantly trying to fix it, it was pretty much a lost cause at this point. He had stripped it of all of its parts and replaced them, but it still refused to work. It was just as well anyway; the board was over seven years old and it had been ridden into the ground by both Manic and sometimes Sonic. The green boy could still remember those lazy days when his older brother had commandeered the board after barely asking for permission. He rode with the same grace and ease that he ran with; the board seemed to just as much a part of him as his feet were. Manic had always had to repair it after getting it back, but it was worth hearing Sonic laugh and yell as he did loops and tricks. He never had the heart to tell Sonic that the hoverboard had been designed for speed, not tricks, and his abuse always left the boosters shorted out.

The reality is that his poor hoverboard had lived a hard, long life, and it is about time he put it to rest. No matter how much he tinkered, stripped, replaced, or rewired, it will never be at full capacity. It is time to retire his trusty old friend.

He is sure his mother will love the sound of that. She has been unsure about Manic riding the thing after the crash into the wall and won't let him ride it out into the city anymore. Sonia also suffered backlash from his little accident; her motorcycle is only allowed to be ridden within the castle grounds and only when a guard is watching. She hadn't been happy about that.

Of course, she had managed to diplomatically plead her way back onto said motorcycle for her trip down to the provinces earlier today, while he is stuck at the palace ducking guards on his half-broken hoverboard. It is amazing the way she can negotiate the things she wants. First getting him to sneak out of the palace yesterday night and now her motorcycle. What's next? Convince him to leave so she's the only heir to the throne?

Manic scoffs at himself and shakes his head. Sonia is a lot of things – conceited, superficial, and pushy all jumped to mind immediately – but she loves her family. After the loss of Sonic, she has clung tightly to what she has left, and she goes out of her way to spend time with both Manic and their mother. It's amazing how she can juggle her heir to the throne duties with her family time; Manic's not sure he could do the same were he in her shoes.

Luckily for him, he only has to be an active royal when his mother and sister are away being diplomatic. And, he has already decided that he is best filling the absentee royalty role. He will do what his mother asked, but not right away and definitely not in the way she wants. That music festival for example. She wants him to book one of the new bands popping up in the newly liberated kingdom, but he has other plans. Sonia's been writing some music on her keyboard and he himself could use a few jam sessions on his drums. It's about time they get back to what brought them back together: music.

"Captain Scott!" Manic is yanked out of his thoughts as a female voice calls from outside. He recognizes it as Angie, the second in command, and holds his breath when he hears her stop in front of the door. "No sign of him!"

Footsteps join her and Scott replies, incredibly close to the doorway. "Well, we have to keep looking. He can't have gone far."

"He was on his hoverboard, wasn't he sir?"

"You know just as well as I that that thing is broken. Besides, he knows better than to leave the grounds without an escort."

"He left last night, didn't he?"

Manic starts at that and his hoverboard almost slips out of his grasp. He barely manages to grab it before it clatters to the floor.

"I have a feeling that was the princess's doing. Besides, the queen didn't seem upset when their absence was reported, especially after they miraculously reappeared in their beds." There is a pause as Scott takes a deep breath. "Look, sweep the north hall and the east wing again. Check with Bartleby – he's been sulking out front – if the prince left through the main hall. I'll keep looking here and I'll send a few men to the south hall."

"Sir!" There is a click of boots as Angie snaps off a sharp salute and then spins around, her footsteps disappearing quickly. Scott takes off in the opposite direction and soon enough Manic is alone again.

He releases the breath he's been holding and lets his hoverboard fall to the ground. It barely makes a sound and he glances down, surprised to find that he's standing on plush carpet, not stone like he originally assumed. One glace up and around and he realizes exactly where he's hiding.

His mother's chambers.

The room is dim, but there is just enough light coming in from under the curtains to allow Manic to catch sight of her large bed and expansive armoire, as well as the huge bookshelves taking up a whole wall.

He freezes at the sight. The bookcases are nearly identical to the ones in his room and from this far away he can tell that some of the books are the same. Quickly padding forward, he runs his fingers down the spines. Something feels off, even through his gloves, and he pads across the large space to the very edge of the cases. The Chaos Theory book is sitting snugly against the end of the shelving, its spine shiny from constant use. He hooks his finger on the lip of the top of the book and yanks it out.

There is a click as the book comes free and he nearly jumps out of his skin as the shelf furthest from him jumps from its place. A sliver of light snakes out, escaping across the room and casting itself across the far wall. He tentatively pads across the carpet and peers at the bookcase. There is just enough room for him to worm his fingers between it and the wall and he does so, squashing down his trepidation.

Manic heaves with all of his might and the shelf swings away from the wall, well oiled hinges silent in the dark. He whistles lowly. "Nice work on the espionage Mom…" he mumbles to himself as he peeks his head around the shelf-turned-door.

The room is barely illuminated by a bare bulb hanging in the middle of the space. The floor and walls are a dark gray stone and there is a draft that snakes its way up Manic's back as soon as he steps inside. A single wooden table sits in center of the room, and the wall across from the door has been converted into a bookshelf. He twitches at the thought of even more books but pads forward nonetheless, his shoes making the barest of clicks against the rock.

The shelving is covered with all kinds of book keeping methods: scrolls, loose parchment, crudely bound diaries, spiral notebooks, and holo-note takers all share the same shelves. He blinks as he runs his eyes over the small library and plucks a random book – a dark brown, older tome – from the shelf. It is hefty in his hand and he easily opens the cover, ignoring the crack the spine makes.

The book releases a smell that soothes him. Despite his inexperience with books – Robotnik had burned every page he could get his hands on – the smell of the old ones is always comforting. Perhaps it is because books are so hard to come by these days, or perhaps because the knowledge held within manifests as a smell after so many years of being contained; he doesn't know.

The front cover is covered with a small inscription, so faded that he has a hard time making it out. He has to bring the book so close to the light that it nearly touches the bulb and then he finally makes sense of the swooping letters.

_To my darling Genevieve, may you keep your history just as I did before you. _

It isn't signed and Manic shrugs before flipping through, catching only certain words as they flash past.

…_Father's coronation…_

…_brother was killed by a visiting royal…_

…_war…_

…_betrothal…_

…_oracle came to me today._

Manic pauses at that, wondering just how old the Oracle is. This book was paper, not holographic like every book printed in the modern age, and it shows signs of being older than even the most modern of print books. He flips through faster, looking for a date, but his search is fruitless and he turns back to where he started, reading a bit deeper now.

_The oracle came to me today and told me a prophecy. I do not remember the exact wording, but the gist is thus:_

_There is to be a hero, a hero so fierce he will put gods to shame and tame chaos. He will transcend even death itself. He is to have many forms but his spirit shall remain the same. He is the treasured son. _

Manic scoffs low in his throat and closes the book. Figures – a vague prophecy in a vague book hidden in a vague room. He returns the book to its place and grabs what he assumes is the most recent addition to the small library – a holo-book at the end of the shelf. Holographic books are more the norm now, opposed to paper. Nothing more than two screens that fit together like a laptop, they record a person talking and convert their words into text. The green boy flips open the holo-plates and slots them together. Automatically, a password box pops up, and, on a whim, he easily taps Sonic's name out. It pings and he's in. After taking a second to roll his eyes, he calls up the very first entry.

_Hello journal, this is Aleena… Chaos, this is awkward. My mother gave me this for my sixteenth birthday. She told me to record something every day, but my life isn't that interesting really. I'm a princess, but I'm not allowed out of the palace. Papa doesn't want me to get hurt, especially with the humans spreading across the planet. The other mobian cities, the ones not under Papa's control, are welcoming them, but Papa wants nothing to do with them. _

_My brother Charles is on a trip to the biggest human city – Station Square, they call it. I wanted to go, but I was forbidden. I'm heir to the throne and Papa wants to keep me safe… Still, how am I supposed to rule one day if I don't know what the world is like? _

_The Oracle is supposed to visit tomorrow. Mother says he has big news about my future. I'll tell you all about it, journal. _

Manic pauses as the entry ends. It is basic, but there is so much revealed through those few words. He knows nothing about his family, and he feels his breath catch at the mention of Aleena's brother. He has an uncle somewhere…

Suddenly, he hears a creak from outside and his heart jumps into his throat. Slamming the holo-journal closed with more force than necessary, he drops it onto the table and scrambles to get out of the room. After shoving the bookshelf back into place, he whirls around to escape.

And slams right into Scott's chest.

"Scott!" Manic yells as he wheels backwards, trying to keep his balance. The guard's face is flat as he reaches forward to steady the prince, and Manic can feel his limited freedom slipping through his fingers. He doesn't say anything for a few moments and Manic is left staring up at him with what he hopes is an apologetic expression.

With a sigh, the dog brushes off his uniform before speaking, "we've been looking for you, my prince."

"_Manic_," the addressed stresses with exasperation, "it's _Manic._"

"Very well, Manic. Did you know that you're in the queen's private chambers?"

There is a beat of silence before Manic quirks an eyebrow. "Haven't you ever snuck into your parents' room, Scott?"

This gives the guard pause and he blinks once before sighing. "Very well. We should probably get to work on your chores. Bartleby is having an aneurism out on the front step."

Manic grins as he picks up his hoverboard and scoots out the door. "Bartleby's fired; he can leave."

Scott smothers a laugh with a cough. "The queen is going to make you hire him back, you know."

"Yeah." Manic shrugs. "But that's not for two more days. He can stay on the step until then."

o0o

…_**:Etude:…**_

The next two years passed quickly. Sonic's fourteenth birthday came and went, celebrated by the hedgehog and fox in the barebones of the workshop. Said building was only halfway complete when Dr. Robotnik attacked again, this time by breaking the Master Emerald and releasing Chaos. Months after that, the human tried again, this time with the Space Colony ARK, Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform, and the Biolizard – each adventure presenting a new challenge for the hedgehog and his friends.

A quiet lull followed and they finally got to finish building the Workshop. Once complete, it had two floors: the bottom a kitchen and living room and the upper two bedrooms and a bathroom. The basement served as the actual workshop and Tails spent the bulk of his time down there while Sonic hovered around the living room between jogs around the planet. For a supposed hyperactive hero, he wasted a lot of time as a couch potato, watching TV and playing video games.

Sonic enjoyed the quiet life in his small home in the middle of nowhere. Tails was usually his only company, and he made sure to drag him out of his work every so often to go for a run or play a board game or watch TV – just enough that he didn't go stir crazy and Tails didn't forget about life outside of the workshop. There were no rules, no expectations, no servants, no grand balls, but there was camaraderie, relaxation, laughter, and freedom. Sure, it wasn't a castle, but it was perfect for the two adopted brothers.

Soon enough, the newly renamed Dr. Eggman reared his head again and Sonic and Tails dragged Knuckles along to stop him. It was strange to be back in a group of three, especially since Tails and Knuckles were so similar to Manic and Sonia – brains and brawn. However, the similarities ended there; he could fight with Tails and Knuckles by his side seamlessly. They made up for each other's weaknesses in a way that Sonia and Manic never could. He didn't have to be constantly aware of where they were or be prepared to save them at a moment's notice, and he could trust them to always be there when he needed; watching his back as much as he watched theirs.

Sonic's fifteenth birthday was on the second day of this adventure. It almost went unnoticed by the hedgehog as he was too distracted by everything whirling by them. This was the most fast paced of Eggman's plans, leading them to traverse seven Zones in two days. It was starting to catch up with all of them, even Sonic, and that was why they made camp early in Rail Canyon. The sun was just sinking in the west when they stumbled to a stop under an overturned train. Knuckles immediately set out to make a fire while Sonic left to gather wood and Tails plopped down, his young body giving out before either of theirs.

Thirty minutes later, all three were sitting around the fire, the only sound between them the occasional crackle of the flames and the whipping of the wind outside. It was strong this high up, and it whisked the smoke away as it lazily floated through a hole in the train above them. Knuckles leveraged himself onto his side, staring deep into the blaze, the brightness reflected back in his amethyst irises.

There was a shuffling sound as Tails scooted up to Sonic's side. With the barest sound, he held a wrapped box out to his best friend, a small smile on his face.

"Happy birthday."

Sonic blinked at the fox, accepting the present without a fight. Tails' blue eyes were dancing with mirth as he saw the surprised look on his friend's face. Suddenly, Sonic was reminded of the first birthday he had shared with Tails, back in the barebones of the Workshop. The fox had baked him a small cake which they had shared after a short squabble over who would get the bigger half. It was a perfect birthday, calm and boring – just how he liked his days.

Tails made an anxious sound that yanked Sonic from his memories and large green eyes blinked again. "It's my birthday." The hedgehog's voice was shocked and he weighed the box in his hands for lack of anything else to do.

"It's your birthday?" Knuckles sat up quickly, caught unawares just like Sonic.

Tails huffed. "Yes, and I'm the only who remembered apparently." He rolled his eyes. "Open it already!"

Sonic did so quickly, siding his finger between the seam of the paper and ripping it open. The box followed suit and he stared down at the object resting inside, a smile widening across his face. It was a cake, exactly the same size as the one Tails had given him last year and cut haphazardly down the middle so one half was bigger than the other. Sonic chuckled, tossing his arm around Tails' shoulder in a half-hug.

"It's exactly what I wanted. Thanks, bro."

Tails' smile was like the sun coming up. "You're welcome. It was the least I could do, considering how the rest of the today went."

Sonic grimaced, recalling the many close calls they had experienced – near drownings, gut wrenching plummets off the ends of rails only ended by a jerk to his arms as Tails managed to barely get his namesakes going, dark bruises from bingo slides… The list went on. Still, the hedgehog chuckled as he gazed down at his one and only birthday present this year. He wouldn't trade these days for any others, simply because he was spending them with his friends.

"Hey Knux," he called across the fire, watching as the echidna's face fell into an annoyed expression at the nickname. "You ever eat cake before?"

"Once," came the clipped reply.

"You want some now?"

There was a pause as Knuckles looked from Sonic, to the cake, to Tails, and back to the cake. He swallowed once before nodding slowly.

"All right, but Tails gets the biggest piece. He baked it."

"What?! No! It's your birthday Sonic!" Tails sounded annoyed despite the joking smile on his face. "You get the biggest piece!"

"But you did all the work, bro. Just because it just so happens to be the day I was born doesn't mean I should enjoy more of your hard work."

"Yes, it does! C'mon Sonic, just cut it again so Knuckles can have some. He looks like he's going to attack you."

The hedgehog chuckled, ignoring the indignant sound that came from the Guardian and he set about to cutting it as best he could with only the things around them. The hedgehog's friends took to squabbling between themselves and they passed the rest of the night in this amicable atmosphere.

The rest of the adventure passed quickly after that, and Sonic found himself back at the Workshop, wasting away his days. Tails' eighth birthday came and went, followed by the Winter Celebrations. At the beginning of March, Sonic heard about Eggman's movements, and he quickly made his way to stop him. The planet split apart after that, and stayed that way for three weeks. The Werehog showed up at night, Sonic rushed through every major city on the planet during the day, and the continents were slowly put back into place.

It was currently early May and life had slowed down once more. Sonic had picked up playing the guitar again to help pass the time between Eggman's attacks, while Tails was working rather diligently on a Chaos Energy manipulation theory. He had happened upon a breakthrough one day when Sonic had been plucking out a few notes on his newly salvaged instrument and realized that he could minutely control the Energies through the use of infrasonic pitches.

The day that became known as the Beginning of the Return in Sonic's mind started off normal enough. Sonic woke early, did his morning stretch routine, and went for his sunrise run. He didn't make it back to the Workshop until around lunchtime, and, by then, it was already too late.

He came home to an excited Tails sitting in Sonic's obscenely bright green room – the hedgehog's favorite color – the drawers of his dresser thrown open, gloves and socks scattered everywhere, and the covers of the bed overturned. At first he thought Tails was finally doing the laundry – it was his turn this week – but when the fox turned to look at him with what could only be described as _sparkly_ eyes, he felt his stomach drop. One glance down at his hands revealed that the fox had found Sonic's broken medallion hidden amongst his socks.

Sonic quickly cycled through at least three stages of anger, disapproval, and shock before he settled on annoyance. "Tails—" His voice was forceful, but the kit steamrolled right over him with his excitement.

"Sonic! Since when have you had _this_?!" It was clearly obvious that he had no idea what _this_ was, and Sonic sent silent thanks to Chaos that Tails had grown up on the islands down south, away from the kingdom. He had no idea about the place of Sonic's birth besides the basics, as Sonic had made a point to avoid it unless absolutely necessary. Luckily, Eggman had done the same so there had never been a need to go back.

There had once been a time when Sonic felt guilty about never sharing his past with Tails. After all, he knew everything about the fox, while Tails knew only the barebones of Sonic's history – that he was an orphan (well not technically but he was mainly addressing the parents that had raised him), and he had run away from his original home. But, to Sonic, the rest of his past didn't really matter anymore. He was Sonic the Hedgehog now, not Prince Sonic Hedgehog, and he never would be. That wasn't him, never had been, and never would be, so it wasn't like Tails needed to know about it anyway. He really was just the orphan boy who stepped up to stop Robotnik on South Island – the rest was just technicality.

"You— That— _What_ are you doing in here?" It wasn't often that Sonic's quick brain couldn't give him something to say and that made this whole situation even more annoying.

His expression must have said as much because Tails' ears dropped down and his expression fell into an apologetic dejection that left Sonic reeling. Really, it wasn't fair that the kid was so cute, even at eight years old. "I was looking for your amp." He was mumbling and Sonic fought to keep the exasperation from showing on his face. "I needed it to, well, amplify my pitches."

Sonic let out an audible sigh. "What possessed you to look in the _drawers_?"

"Well, I had _this_ with me," he held up a silver pitch fork, and Sonic felt his eyes narrow, "and I accidentally bumped it into the dresser. This thing," now he held up the medallion, "reacted to the pitch so I dug through and found it and here we are. What _is_ this?"

Sonic stared at it, trying to come up with a way to wiggle out of this situation. Eventually, he decided it was a losing battle, and replied with, "a present from my parents."

Tails' return stare was unnerving, as if he knew that Sonic wasn't telling the whole truth. "I can fix it," he said bluntly.

Sonic very nearly fell over. It was only his natural instinct to lock his knees that kept him upright, though he did sway a little. "What?"

"I think I can fix it. It's got some type of Chaos sustaining it – kinda like an Emerald. I'll just need to hit it with the right pitch and the Energies should realign and it'll be good as new."

"But…" Sonic didn't know what to think. That broken medallion had helped along his decision to leave his family; it was what drove him to follow Robotnik to South Island. But, if he was honest with himself, it hadn't really been a major player in anything after that. It had simply sat in his drawer once he had a room and he hadn't thought twice about it. But, now that Tails was telling him he could _fix it_… "I don't know if I want it fixed…"

Tails stared at him, trying to discern what Sonic meant. Eventually, he gave up trying to puzzle it out himself and he asked, "What do you mean?"

"That thing being broken… It…" Sonic floundered for a few seconds before he sighed and looked up at Tails with large, expressive eyes, hoping his face got across what he couldn't say. "It's better in two pieces."

"But, Sonic…" Tails held the two sections of the medallion close to each other. They hummed happily as they came near each other and Sonic felt a thrill go up his spine. "Look at it. It _needs_ to be fixed. I don't know what this thing is, but I can tell you that it doesn't deserve to be shoved into the back of your sock drawer." He paused, his eyes lowering. "Especially if it's from your parents."

Sonic felt his heart tug. Parents were a sore subject for the fox, because of his nonexistent memory of his own and the fact that none of their friends – save Cream – knew of their own as well. One look at his hopefully dejected face told Sonic that he wasn't going to let this go no matter how much he begged. The medallion was a connection none of them had, and it was his job as Sonic's best friend to keep that connection alive.

He just didn't know that that connection would do nothing but cause the hedgehog grief.

But, one look at his large, expressive blue eyes, and Sonic was reminded of those same eyes, dark and tear stained after they received a beating on a beach on Emerald Hill. There was determination swimming there – a determination that would not go away.

"Fine." A sigh accompanied the blue hedgehog's word and he turned on his heel. "I'm going for another run."

Tails stared at him and Sonic was sure he was going to call after him, but he remained silent.

The speedster quickly darted out of the Workhouse and off the plateau the building was situated on. After jumping onto the tracks that led to Station Square and then blasting through the city, he headed off in a westerly direction. He had no idea where he was going, letting his legs take him where he needed to go, but he wasn't surprised in the least when a giant white washed building appeared before him, flying flags he had never seen in person but dreamed about nonetheless.

He hopped the fence and darted in through an open window on the second floor, no one the wiser.

o0o

_***Modulation:*:**_ _**Counterpoint***_

"Now, Manic, put your feet together, hands at your sides, and for Chaos' sake, pick your chin up. You're a prince, not a child." Sonia's tone is sharp as she corrects her little brother, taping his shoulders as she circles him like a shark. The green mobian sighs, his face twisting into a scowl.

"Chill a bit, Sonia," he drawls, his voice soothing. "No one'll notice me with you in the room. You know how these things go."

"Not this time," the girl corrects, coming to a stop in front of him. She reaches out and straightens his vest, eliciting a deeper scowl from her brother, before continuing. "This ball is in honor of _our_ birthday," she ticks under her breath, catching sight of his scuffed sneakers, "which means you can't skip it this time."

Manic grins easily in response, placing his hands on his hips and leaning his weight onto his right foot. "Someone's gotta be the black sheep royal – might as well be me."

Sonia's expression darkens at his pose, but she chooses not to comment on it or his response. Instead, she backs up a few feet and places herself into a ballet dancer's stance. "Now, pretend that I'm a pretty girl you just saw across the room and you want to ask her to dance. How would you do it?"

A sly smile slides across his face and he makes his way toward his sister with a practiced swagger bouncing his step. As he approaches, he cocks an eye ridge toward her and, once he reaches her, he leans toward her conspiratorially. "No," he answers, immediately jumping backward to avoid her swing at his head.

"You're impossible," she huffs when he successfully gets away. "No wonder Mother never seems upset when you don't show up at the balls."

He smiles again, though it was a bit more subdued than before. "No wonder."

The years have passed just as quickly for the twins. Their fourteenth birthday was filled with fun and laughter and presents – the total opposite of the one before it. Manic received another hoverboard from Cyrus, along with a letter about life in Green Hill Zone. The board, called an Ex Gear, was sleek and fast, nothing like Manic had ever seen, and he had taken to it with gusto. Every day, without fail, he would fly along the corridors of the palace. The year after went by without incident, though the queen and Sonia left Manic alone at the palace at least six times. He had done quite a bit of secret reading during those long weekends, learning a lot about his family's past. Their fifteenth birthday was uneventful, besides another letter from Cyrus. Then, the earthquakes hit.

In their small kingdom, they were quite isolated. News did not travel quickly, and, by the time it reached the royals, it was outdated and twisted beyond belief. But, when the quakes hit, Manic had been hell bent to find out what was happening. His mother, of course, had a problem with that and forbid him from leaving the palace. That didn't stop him from taking off at night on his hoverboard. He never got very far, because the board had a limited air supply, and it always ran out before he got past the outskirts of the city. He never really found out what happened during the quakes, just that the whole planet had been broken into pieces and eventually fixed. He was still kind of pissed about that, but there wasn't anything he could do – not while he was under his mother's control.

He had considered leaving multiple times, but his conscience had stopped him every time. _What would happen to Sonia if you did that? How do you think she would take it?_ he always asked himself when he was halfway through the window, backpack on his shoulders. He always ended up back in bed, ready to struggle through another misinformed day.

"C'mon Manic," Sonia pleads, jerking the boy out of his thoughts. "At least try to _pretend_ you're paying attention."

"I'm _trying_, Sonia. I can't help it I don't want to be here."

"Manic…" she trails off with a sigh. "You need to learn to preset yourself correctly. You're going to embarrass Mother, the kingdom, _me_—"

The green hedgehog tunes her out as he sees something move out of the corner of his eye. He jerks around to face the back of the ballroom, eyes narrowing. The curtains are settling, as if something just brushed past them, but he knows for a fact that Sonia is the only person in the room beside him.

"Manic! What are you—?"

"Ssh!" He creeps forward, nearly on his toes to keep his shoes from tapping on the floor. Hands straining toward the medallion pinned to the inside of his vest (a useless gesture now that the necklaces have no power left in them), Manic's eyes narrow further when the curtain shifts again, as if sensing his approach.

He is inches from his destination, arm outstretched to grab the curtain and jerk it backward, when Sonia finally gets fed up. She grabs his shoulder and yanks him around, her expression stern. "Manic, _please_. We're stuck in here until you learn—"

Suddenly, a blast of power slams its way into Manic's chest, right above his heart. His medallion burns – _through his gloves_ – against his reaching fingers and he jerks them back as he nearly falls over. Next to him, Sonia yells out as she stumbles forward, reaching for her own chest. Pink energy snakes its way up her body, heading straight toward her ponytail, where her medallion is fixed in her hair. A glance down at himself, at the _green energy_ dancing toward his own medallion, makes his eyes nearly pop out of his head. He lets out a curse as another wave of energy smashes into him and forces him to his knees as well.

"Manic _what—_?!"

Before he can answer, there is a crash in front of them, and both jerk upward in time to catch sight of a large, antique piece of pottery crash to the ground. Manic's eyes widen impossibly more as he spies the barest hint of a blue afterimage, nothing more than a faint blur. His breath catches.

"Did you see…?" Sonia's voice is just as breathless as he feels and he can do nothing more than nod. "But that was…"

"That looked a lot like Sonic."

o0o

_**...:Coda:…**_

When Sonic made it back to the workshop, he was breathless and in pain. His chest was throbbing as wave after wave of familiar energy coursed through his body. The medallion's influence still had a hold on him, even after being broken for the past few years, and an influx of Chaos Energy was trying to fight it off. The two Energies didn't get along, he realized after about five seconds, and he had barreled back to the workshop, running against the crippling pain.

He blasted through the door, nearly knocking it free of its hinges, and zipped down the stairs to the workshop. Quickly spying Tails at the table in the middle of the room, he stumbled to a stop, using the table to keep himself upright.

"Sonic! I—"

"You fixed it." Sonic's tone was resigned and he almost fell over as another wash of power hit him. "Let me see it."

Tails' face was worried and he looked like he wanted to say something, but he bit his tongue and slid the medallion across the table at his friend. As soon as the hedgehog's fingers came into contact with it, the surge of energy swelled, nearly overwhelming him, and he jerked his hands away, trying and failing to hold back a pained sound. "What's this thing made of?" Sonic hissed, falling away from the table. He landed on his backside and all of the air in his lungs escaped with a _woosh_.

"I'm not sure," Tails answered truthfully as he dodged around the table to drop down next to Sonic. He had the medallion in his hands and the speedster shied away. "But I think it's some kind of Chaos Energy. It works as a filter, extracting neutral energy from the air and siphoning it into whoever is wearing it. I thought if I kept it away from you it wouldn't affect you but…"

"I wore that thing for twelve years!" Sonic's voice was more forceful than he intended, but the pain was overwhelming now, almost like being stabbed in the chest over and over again by a hot knife. "It's connected to me!"

"What _is_ this thing?!" Tails demanded, eyebrows pulling together. He had had enough of the half-truths and simple answers.

"I don't know, Tails – I don't know! My mother gave it to me the day I was born, and a giant explosion of Chaos Energy broke it when I was twelve! It can turn into a guitar, and, when I play it, it can make lasers! I don't know what it is!"

"A Chaos Explosion? You mean _Chaos Control_?"

Sonic would've hit himself if he wasn't too busy writhing. "I guess! Do something with it!"

"What should I do?!" Tails voice was almost hysterical now and he reached forward as if he wanted to grab Sonic and shake him.

"I dunno! Smack an Emerald into it! Do something!"

Tails disappeared from Sonic's side, the medallion with him. There was a sound of shuffling and then, just like that, the energy war disappeared. Sonic couldn't help the gasp that escaped as the pain dissipated, ebbing until there was nothing left. He sat up straighter, waiting to make sure the fix was going to hold, before pulling himself to his feet. Tails was at the table, green Chaos Emerald in one hand, medallion in the other. He had the two smashed together and Sonic smirked when he looked up at him.

"Did it work?"

"Yup. Good job bro."

"Don't congratulate me just yet…" Tails warned, glancing back down at the table. "I still have to break up these two."

Sonic winced but nodded, steeling his nerves. Tails took a deep breath before jerking his arms apart. The Emerald flashed as it was separated from the medallion, and there were a few seconds of silence before Sonic heaved another deep sigh. "I think we're good."

Tails sagged down in relief. "I guess the Emerald negated whatever this thing is… It should be okay for now…" Easily, the fox tossed the medallion at his friend. "There. It's fixed."

"Tails…" Sonic trailed off, running his fingers over the worn medal. "This isn't… This part of me is dead." The hedgehog's voice was hushed, almost a whisper, and Tails' ears inclined forward so he could hear him.

"I know," the fox answered as he dusted his hands off. "I shouldn't have pried. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"No, no. It's good it's fixed. I've been running from my past for too long. Thank you."

"You're welcome…" Tails paused for a beat before adding, "You're not alone, ya'know."

"I know, kid. Thanks. I'll be back. I need to clear my head."

Then, he was gone, the medallion clattering onto the table as he went.

o0o

_***Modulation:*:**_ _**Portamento***_

The next day finds Manic in his mother's secret room, scouring the books. He has the old brown one propped open, the holo-journal unlocked in front of him. His eyes scan the digital text, looking for any clue, any hint at that original prophecy. His mother quickly became a prolific writer, and her words flowed together easier and easier with every entry. Still, he has only managed to read up through her twenty-first birthday, and was currently battling through her engagement to whom he could only assume was his father. So far, the Oracle has only visited her once, on her sixteenth birthday, and that was to tell her she would have triplets.

Manic heaves a sigh as he scrolls through another entry. "The wedding is in five days," he imitates in a falsetto. "Jules is sooooo handsome and I love him so much. His fur is a light green and his eyes dark brown like mine and he will make a fine husband…" He chuckles to himself, and shakes his head at his own antics before shoving his hand into the hologram and forcing it forward two years.

"Here we go…" He leans forward to get a better look at the words, and his medallion – now hanging on a chain around his neck – hums against his chest. He brushes a finger over it as he reads.

_The oracle visited me today. He told me of my children – two boys and a girl. One will be Chaos Touched, though he won't tell me which. He promised that whichever it is will reach great heights, but I'm worried. I've read about the Chaos Emeralds and I've seen the Master Emerald, and that kind of energy isn't something that should be shoved onto an infant. I've spoken to Jules about it and he agrees. We've commissioned the Master Emerald Guardian to fashion a charm out of the protective stone and metal of the Hidden Palace. He tells us it should filter the positive Energy enough to keep the child sustained, but controlled. Of course, we will have to make sure the charm is removed before their thirteenth birthday or there will be reverse effects. _

_Athair hasn't told me much about what will happen should we fail to take the medallion away, but I can only imagine. My great-great-great-grandfather was Chaos Touched, and he was ruthless to anything and everyone around him. I can only hope stunting the growth when they're small will help build benevolence… _

_The Oracle told me that the medallions will be shaped after the children, and Athair has been told of their personalities. I have no idea what to expect, but I trust them. The two normal children will not be affected by the charms, though they will be able to use their mystic abilities. They will be connected, so they normal two's medallions will feed off the Chaos Touched's and gain their power that way. _

_He left me with one last assurance. Great-Great-Grandmother Genevieve's prophecy will come true during this generation. I don't know what he was talking about, but I'm sure it means something. I'm going to look into it. _

Manic jerks away from the holo-journal, falling forward to grab the paper book lying across from him. He flips the pages roughly, nearly ripping them free, searching for the page he read over a year ago.

Seconds later, his hands find what he's looking for and his eyes wrench across the page and light on the scratched prophecy.

_There is to be a hero, a hero so fierce he will put gods to shame and tame chaos. He will transcend even death itself. He is to have many forms but his spirit shall remain the same. He is the treasured son. _

"Transcend death…" Manic mumbles, hands fisted around the book.

His mind is awhirl. The explosion… The medallions… The earthquakes… The pain in the ballroom… _The_ _medallions_. He grabs the medal hanging around his neck and it thrums at the touch, the total opposite of how it was a few days ago – how it had been for the past three _years_.

The blue blur.

Suddenly, he _knows_. Beyond the shadow of a doubt. He closes the books and swallows past the ball that's lodged in his throat. The medallion hums in beats now, matching tempo with his racing heart.

"Sonic's alive."

000

_**Accelerando**_

Manic sneaks out of the palace two days later.

With his hoverboard under his feet, and a fanny pack around his waist, he jumps from his bedroom window. The board is nearly silent as it catches him inches from the ground, and he ghosts across the grounds and over the fence, nothing more than a green blur escaping into the night.

He travels for two hours before he has to change the air canister, and, by that time, the city lights are only a smudge in the distance. He has no idea how far he is from the border, but if he hasn't passed it yet, he's sure to soon.

Four hours later, the board finally uses up every last bit of air in the second canister and it's near seven o'clock in the morning. He sets up camp under a tree, hiding his board in some scrub grass and nearly collapsing next to it.

He is in the open.

This is his first and only mistake.

o0o

Sonic saw the kidnapping in passing. Literally, he was just passing through when it happened. The only thing he saw was a small platoon of Egg Fighters converge on a sleeping bulge of fur and he knew he wouldn't be making it home this morning. Quickly pulling a small communicator from his quills, he called Tails up to let him know what was going on. The fox confirmed his position as somewhere outside Monopole and said he would be there is fifteen minutes with the _Tornado_.

Ten minutes later, Eggman appeared in his Egg-O-Matic, and Sonic heard him express extreme delight over his new captive from his hiding spot. It took three minutes for the doc to get his robots to tie the poor mobian up and load it onto the floating mech.

Two minutes later, on the dot, the _Tornado_ swooped in, flying dangerously near the ground, just low enough for Tails to reach out, grab Sonic's hand, and heave him onto the bottom wing. As they gained altitude, the hedgehog used the stabilizing bars to swing himself up to the top wing.

Eggman only had a few minutes head start. This would be an easy rescue; they would be back at the workshop in half an hour.

That was their first wrong assumption.

000

Really, Manic should have figured that something like this would happen. He actually takes the initiative to leave Mobotropolis for the first time in three years, and he is immediately kidnapped. The fact that it had happened while he had been asleep is insulting, and he wastes no time voicing that fact to whoever is on the other side of his blindfolded eyes. His hands are tied behind his back, but he has managed to move his wrists around so they aren't chafing against the ropes, and his legs are anchored together and tied to something that is obviously bigger and heavier than he, so he can do nothing to get away.

Doesn't stop him from cursing his captor to high kingdom come though.

"This ain't cool, whoever you are," the fifteen year old declares for the sixth time in ten minutes, shifting his hips a tad so he isn't leaning on his hands. "Really, if you wanted to have me over for dinner, you could've just asked. Props on the blindfold though."

A large sigh follows his declaration, and he is sure he hears the only other sentient mumble, "Should have gagged instead of blindfolded him," under his breath before his voice rises to address Manic at full volume. "Shut up, hedgehog." The aircraft they are traveling in jerks a bit to the right, upending Manic from his perilously balanced position. The mobian hisses as all of his weight falls onto his tied hands, bending his wrists past their meant pivot point. "Now that I have you, _prince_," he spits the title as if it is laced poison, "the rest of my plan will fall into place like puzzle pieces."

"Look dude," Manic tries again, rolling onto his side to save his hands from further torture, "I ain't worth jack squat. Sonia's the crown princess. I'm just her handsome younger brother."

His adversary lets out a laugh that sends shivers up Manic's spine. He _knows_ that cackle… "You think I want your kingdom? _Ha_! That is a fool's prize compared to what I have planned! All I have to do is get you to the Station Square, where your idiot of a br-"

The soft sound of something impacting the ceiling of the vehicle is the only prelude to the sharp dip the suddenly take. Manic's stomach takes a dive, dragging his heart along for the ride, and his captor lets out a curse. His sensitive ears can barely pick up the sound of buttons being pressed, and they are suddenly rising again. The sound of a propeller and an older engine circle past outside, followed quickly by the sharp rat-a-tat of gunfire striking glass. Manic's heart heaves itself back into position just so it can jerk hopefully. But, before he can contemplate which part of his mother's nonexistent air force uses old airplanes, the voice of his kidnapper yells out, enraged.

"_What_," it isn't so much a question as a demand. "That was bullet proof glass! Ugh! You've annoyed me for the last time, _fox_!"

Manic's well trained ears pick up the sound of a missile booster powering on and he takes in a sharp breath when the craft rocks as the projectile leaves its home. It whistles away, and, approximately two seconds later, it detonates, letting off a hollow sound as it impacts something moving almost as quickly as it.

There is a muffled yell, and then suddenly the aforementioned bullet proof glass shatters inward, raining down on Manic in tiny pellets. He squirms down into a ball, tucking his face into his chest, but leaves his ears at attention. They swivel in an attempt to hear every single sound.

"'Sup Doc?" a deep voice questions, tone and timbre somehow familiar to Manic, though he is sure that he has never heard it before. "You know, you really shouldn't have shot Tails down."

"Now, why not? Come, Son-!" The voice cuts off mid-word as something strikes the man, ending his sentence with a gargle. There is a jerk, a groan, and then a thunk as someone hits the ground. Manic is unsure of what to expect until there is a sound of shuffling and something taps his foot as it is rolled by him. As his supposed savior passes, the green hedgehog hears him mumble,

"Jeeze, wouldn't kill Eggman to lay off the chili dogs."

Something inside of Manic drops, like a downbeat, and he sucks in a breath.

His intake of air catches the other's attention and the voice comes again, obviously directed at him. "You okay back there?"

Manic chokes, unable to say anything other than a stuttered "Y-Yeah." That voice is familiar to him, despite the softer tone; the edge of sarcasm and smugness is the same as ever, but there is something else now… wisdom and an almost… endearing quality that begged to be trusted. Before, that voice had demanded respect, commanded it with harsh words and tone. Now though, it receives that same respect without trying. It is the voice of someone who has looked death in the eye, laughed, and come back stronger. It is a voice Manic wishes he had heard for the past three years.

Yet, despite all of this, he doesn't allow it to get his hopes up. There are so many people in the world who could have that voice, and the one person he wishes it could be has been dead for a long time. There's no way…

Manic cuts off his own thoughts as he hears steps pad toward his still cowed form. They are sure, and seconds later he feels gloved hands pick at the ropes. They are loosened and then gone seconds later.

"Some master thief," the other jokes in a low voice, moving down to Manic's feet while the green one rubs at his wrists. The prince bristles at the jab, but he chooses not to respond, instead pulling himself to a sitting position once his legs are free. The other person moves in front of him and places his hands on either side of his head, pulling the blindfold free moments later.

Manic blinks once and looks up at his savior. Immediately, he is impacted by bright emerald eyes, dancing with mirth and life, so impossibly calm despite their surroundings that he sucks in a deep breath. Then, his focus widens and he sees the blue brow surrounding them, the tan muzzle twisted into a familiar smirk, and he falls backwards, scrambling away on his hands and feet. However, the further away he moves, the clearer the picture becomes, and he feels himself starting to hyperventilate.

Tan arms and belly, surrounded by blue. A dark blue. Darker than Manic remembers. He is thin, all of his leftover baby fat and chili dog weight gone and replaced with sinewy muscle that barely ripples under his fur when he moves. He isn't buff by any means, but he has definite muscle tone there, something Manic thought he'd never see considering how much the blue one enjoyed scarfing down food. The legs are impossibly thin and strong, obviously well exercised.

Then, when his eyes track to the shoes, his mind is shocked silent. They are perfect, almost the same save the buckles that now decorate them, no scuffs in sight. There is obvious care, and he is struck by the significance of it. After all these years, he still wears the same shoes… Sure they've been upgraded, resized, and resoled, but they are the same. The red and white shine in the sunlight coming in through the large glass dome covering their heads, and the buckles wink at him.

Manic's eyes track back up, past the strong legs, the lean stomach, the tan muzzle, and back to the emerald eyes. They are the only thing that is different. They should be dark, like Manic and Sonia's. Like their _mother's_. Yet, the pupils are the same – dark and deep and all-knowing. The green is freedom, telling of a life led without a crown hovering over his head, of thousands of things seen through that emerald. But, his world view has not changed completely. There is still the dark trap of royalty at the center of his eyes, and perhaps his being, reminding him every time he looked in the mirror of what he left behind.

And what he gained.

"You okay?"

The voice is deep, thick with adrenaline and veiled with something Manic can't decipher. The green hedgehog feels his ears flick upwards and then down again as it meets his inner ear, beating a familiar beat against the drum. Those eyes are wide, a swirl of emotion alive inside of them, and Manic can only stare, pushing himself further away as the blue one moves closer. Soon enough, his back makes contact with the outer wall of the ship. He winces.

"Ma—" The other hedgehog catches on the first syllable and goes silent. He continues creeping forward before falling to his knees in front of Manic. They are eye level now. A gloved hand snakes up to the green one's shoulder and grips firmly, forcing him to look at his savior. "Are you all right?"

Is he? He's probably dead, considering his long gone brother is kneeling in front of him with green eyes and buckles on his shoes. The fact that he looks aged is troublesome, but who says you can't age in the afterlife?

"I'm not hurt." He goes for the easy answer so he doesn't have to lie.

He most certainly is not all right.

Ever the older brother, even after three years, the other can see right through his feint. "But are you _all right_?"

"I…" There is a pause as Manic schools his thoughts and tries to put together a response that's not all together stupid- or rude-sounding. "I'm not sure."

The blue hedgehog stares at him for a few seconds, gauging that reaction, before he sighs and backs away, gracefully standing as he does so. He swivels around and pads back to the controls, where he deftly pilots the craft to the ground. It takes what seems like seconds before they feel a bump and the glass above them hydraulically hisses before sliding open. Then, the other hedgehog is hauling Manic to his feet with a simple 'c'mon'. He heaves the green one out of the ship in a huge grunt, and Manic lands on his backside in the dirt with an _oomph_; a blue streak bounced out seconds later, pulling the prince up once again.

The cobalt hedgehog leads Manic away from the craft, barely explaining that it's called an 'Egg-O-Matic', and they continue north in silence. In the distance, there is a string of smoke rising, and Manic quickly points this out, watching as the other's face drops from a neutral expression to a shocked and worried one. "Oh, no…"

Suddenly, Manic feels his arm jerk, and the world narrows in front of him. The landscape becomes a blur as his savior drags him along behind him, and the green hedgehog feels his stomach roll.

He was running.

"Sonic…" He doesn't much as say the word as it escapes, rushing out against every other thought trying to convince him that what he was seeing _wasn't possible_. His medallion hums and he is sure that the other would have stopped right there, had his words not been snatched away by the wind. "You're alive."

* * *

_Spent quite a bit of time with Manic in this one. Next one will be focused on more on Sonic, promise. _

_Reviews are cherished. _


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